The country defended some of its titles and bagged new awards as well at the World Travel Awards 2023.
This year’s World Travel Awards (WTA) was held at the iconic Burj Al Arab in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Established in 1993, the WTA aims to acknowledge excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries.
At the ceremony on December 1, the Philippines received the Global Tourism Resilience Award for the first time. The award shows that the country exemplifies “global leadership, pioneering vision, and innovation to overcome critical challenges and adversity.”
The Philippines is also one of only five countries and destinations to receive this inaugural award. “Inaugural winners will serve as benchmarks for best practices in tourism resilience,” the WTA said.
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Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said that this award was an “affirmation of all the hard work done in the past year to strengthen the pillars of tourism development.”
Also for the first time, the country’s capital Manila won the award for World’s Leading City Destination.
Meanwhile, the Philippines claimed its titles as the World’s Leading Dive Destination and the World’s Leading Beach Destination once again.
Becoming a Global Destination
“We are elated and grateful that Philippine tourism continues to soar to global prominence with tourists declaring their love for the Philippines,” Frasco said in a statement.
“With these remarkable triumphs, the Philippines reinforces its position as an unparalleled destination,” she continued.
Department of Tourism Undersecretary Shahlimar Hofer Tamano and Assistant Secretary Maria Rica Bueno received the awards at the ceremony overseas.
“As I said, the main asset is the people, and that is something that a lot of countries in the world don’t have. It’s the people of the Philippines that make your tourism assets the most amazing,” WTA President and Founder Graham Cooke said.
“The work ethic, the happiness, the smile, and the hospitality that the Philippines have are global icons.”
Banner image by Juckelene Toledo via Pexels.
