Maldives leisure sector recognised in country’s first travel and tourism awards
Male, Maldives -The Maldives Association for Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) recently honoured the travel and tourism industry with the first-ever Maldives travel awards.
The award ceremony was held on 28th September at Paradise Island Resort. Awards for 21 categories including resorts, hotels, liveaboards and aviation were awarded trophies.
“The event began with awarding of appreciation plaques to Mr Abdulla Jabir, Mr. Yoosuf Riffath and Mr. Maleeh Jamal for their contribution to the development of MATATO,” according to a MATATO media release. Senior management members of top hotel chains in Maldives attended the event. Members of the executive board of MATATO and the Minister of State for Tourism, Arts and Culture also attended the event.
The judging panel and expert panel, appointed by MATATO, was made up of Dr. Mahamood Shougee (Former Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation), Dr. Ahmed Adham Abdulla (CEO of MTCC), Ms. Zeenaz Hussain (Dean of Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Studies), and Ghaly Murthala (Tourism Development Consultant for FJS Consulting Pvt Ltd). “This is a dream come true for us here at MATATO and sets a precedence for many awards to come. We believe this is just the beginning and hopefully we have learnt a lot from this year’s first experience and this will help us built better and more comprehensive awards for 2013,” noted Mohamed Khaleel, President of MATATO. MATATO was founded in 2006 and currently, the association represents more than 70 travel agents and tour operators in the Maldives.