Kerala Tourism wins Golden Gate award in Germany

Kerala Tourism's popular global multimedia campaign to promote the backwaters has won the Golden Gate award at the Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) - 2015, the world's leading travel trade event.

The state tourism department bagged the silver prize at the Das Golden Stadttor (Golden Gate) Awards presented in the German capital on Thursday night.

Tourism secretary G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, who is leading the state tourism delegation at the ITB 2015, and Suman Billa, joint secretary in the union tourism ministry and former state tourism secretary, received the prize at the ceremony in Berlin.

Conceptualised by Kerala Tourism's creative and marketing agency Stark Communications, 'The Great Backwaters' campaign had won the Golden Gate Gold Prize in the Print category at the ITB-Berlin last year.

Earlier, Kerala Tourism had won the Golden Gate Silver Prize for the hugely successful 'Your Moment is Waiting' ad campaign in the print category.

Presented every year at the ITB-Berlin, Golden Gate Awards, dubbed the 'Oscar in tourism communication', is considered the ultimate recognition in global tourism communication.

The awards, in its 14th year, provides worldwide attention to the tourism industry.

"We are honoured by the remarkable recognition for the Great Backwaters Campaign at the world's biggest travel trade event," said Kerala Tourism Minister A.P.Anilkumar.

"The honour in Berlin will inspire us to promote our state further across the world. Our efforts are aimed at promoting Kerala in the most creative and effective way to a larger global audience," Anilkumar added.