Malaysia Tourism Awards 2014/2015: Mauritian agency bags Best Foreign Tour Operator Award

Held once every two years, the Malaysia Tourism Awards is the highest form of recognition by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and Tourism Malaysia. Expanded to acknowledge the efforts of more partners, this year’s Best Foreign Tour Operator award was conferred upon the Mauritian travel agency – Holiday Planners. Recognising local and international industry players for outstanding contributions and innovative products and services in the success of Malaysia’s tourism industry, the 19th edition of the Malaysia Tourism Awards took place on 17 February at Putra World Trade Centre, in Kuala Lumpur. The grand award ceremony was graced by YAB Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia and was attended by local and international players and captains of the tourism industry. Expanded to acknowledge the efforts of more partners, the Best Foreign Tour Operator award was conferred to the Mauritian travel agency – Holiday Planners. Benjamine Li, Managing Director confides that she is proud of having received such prestigious recognition. “On 26th January 2016, I received an email from Malaysia Tourism announcing that Holiday Planners has been nominated as the Best Foreign Tour Operator from Mauritius for the upcoming Malaysia Tourism Awards 2014/2015. I could not believe it, and I quickly informed my staff, as I wanted to share this joy with them. Words were not enough to express this joy as I never thought to get this award. I dedicate this reward to all my staff who also contributed to this success,” she says. The Malaysia Tourism Awards 2014/2015 had 14 categories and 50 sub-categories for nominations. This year it also introduced several changes to better reflect the landscape of the global tourism industry. Of the 14, two are new categories, namely Best Travel Documentary and Best Online Promotion. In addition, the Best Tourism Publication, no longer restricted to tourism magazines, considered the contributions made by local and international publications such as coffee table books and guidebooks that have given good coverage on Malaysia. The Managing Director of Holiday Planners Travel Agency Mauritius, Benjamine Li who attended the grand ceremony on 17 February in Malaysia confided that she was surprised to learn that there were 65 awards to be given to partners all over the world including 53 esteemed panel of judges (3 judges in each category). “I was proud to be among the winners and this has made Mauritius become known on the world map. I must also say that the organization of the award ceremony was fantastic.” Benjamine Li revealed that the Best Foreign Tour Operator award has given a boost to the agency. “This has further motivated my staff, and even myself, as I have been doing a lot of advert for Malaysia with our customers… Malaysia is a destination where many Mauritians like to go, as you have everything: food, shopping, theme parks, among others. So we encourage our customers to stopover in Malaysia for a minimum of three nights.” The Managing Director of the travel agency has many projects in mind: “For example to work with destinations like Singapore. With Changi and Mauritius as hub, this will be another challenge for us.” Holiday Planners Travel Agency Mauritius, was founded on 7th Jan 1991. The agency will be celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year. “We have been struggling during these years, as Competition is tough in this Market, having nearly 55 IATA Travel Agencies in Mauritius. Despite this competition, we have managed to make the difference among our competitors, by giving personalised services to our Customers,” states Benjamine Li. Today Holiday Planners Travel Agency is among Top 3 Best Agents for Air Mauritius for 2013/2014 and Top 5 Best Agents for Emirates Airlines. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"12445","attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-20383","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"640","height":"913","alt":"winners"}}]] About the Malaysia Tourism Awards Since its inception in 1987, the Malaysia Tourism Awards has evolved a lot to reflect the changing tourism landscape. Initially called the Malaysia Tourism Gold Awards, it was later renamed the Malaysia Tourism Awards in 1993 to better reflect the distinction of the awards and the corporate image of Tourism Malaysia. In 2000, the awards evolved from a locally-focused recognition to include the contributions of the international tourism fraternity towards Malaysia’s tourism industry. Recognition was given to foreign tour operators who diligently marketed Malaysia to their respective target audience, and members of the media who promoted Malaysia through their publications. Another improvement to the awards was the creation of a MICE category in 2004. It was a timely move as Malaysia was gaining recognition as a destination for meetings and international conventions. The 19th Malaysia Tourism Awards 2014/2015 had 14 categories including Best Tourism Article, Best Tourism Publication, Best Online Tourism Promotion, Best Travel Documentary, Best Tour Package, Best Tourist Attraction, Innovative Restaurant, Best Homestay, Best Spa, Innovative Shopping Centre, and Best Hotel Services.