Tourism excellence awards up
This year's Western Visayas Tourism Excellence Awards (WVTEA) is slated on November 14, 2007 at Nature's Village Resort, Talisay City in Negros Occidental, with various awards up for grabs in seven categories.
The WVTEA is one of the highlights of the Western Visayas Tourism Assembly hosted by the province of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City from November 12 to 18.
Department of Tourism 6 Regional Director Edwin Trompeta said the WVTEA aims to recognize institutions and individuals who have contributed to the promotion and development of tourism in Western Visayas.
The seven award categories include institutional awards, creative awards, individual awards, destination, special awards, lifetime achievement awards and the Regional Director's awards.
The awards that will be given under the institutional category include Western Visayas' Best Hotel (First class, Standard class, Economy class), Best Special Accommodation Facility, Best Resort, Best Restaurant, Best Tour Operator, Best Tourism Event, Best Tourism Convention/Marketing Bureau, Best Tourism Council/ Association, Best LGU (Provincial/City /Component City/Municipal), Best Tourist Transport Operator.
For the creative category, the awards are Best Tour Package, Best Travel Writer and Best Travel Publication while awards for the Individual category are Best Tour Guide, Best Tourism Frontliner, Best Taxi Driver, Best Tourist Transport Driver and Best Tourism Officer Award.
The Destination Award will be presented to a destination in recognition of its contribution to the development and promotion of the tourism industry through the cooperative efforts exhibited by both private and local government sector.
Special awards will also be given such as Western Visayas' Best Eco-Tourism Product and Best Business Practice while the Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to individual in recognition of his/her noteworthy career as a tourism practitioner.
Given as a special award, the Regional Director's Award recognizes an outstanding contribution by an individual or a private organization to the development and promotion of the tourism industry in the region. This contribution should have a significant impact and bring about long term positive benefits to the industry.
Aside from the WVTE Awards, other events during the 2007 WV Tourism Assembly are: from November 12 to 18, Regional Tourism Fair and Regional Cultural Showcase at SM City Bacolod; November 12 to 14 at Regional Travel Exchange at Sugarland Hotel; November 14, Regional Tourism Congress at L’Fisher Hotel; November 15, Tourism Olympics at SM City and Search for Miss WV Tourism at the Provincial Capitol; November 16 to 17, Regional Food Festival at SM City Carpark; and November 16, Regional Parade of Festivals in Bacolod City. (PIA)