PATWA announces its 25 th and 2025 edition of the PATWA International Travel Awards at ITB, Berlin.

The 25th and the 2025 edition of the PATWA World Tourism and Aviation Leaders Summit on "AI & Sustainable Tourism" will be followed by the prestigious PATWA International Travel Awards at ITB, Berlin on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

The PATWA International Travel Awards are given to recognize governments, brands, individuals, ministers, and organizations that have excelled and are involved in the promotion of tourism from different sectors of the travel trade. This includes aviation, airlines, hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, countries, destinations, provinces, cities, government bodies, and other service providers related directly or indirectly to the industry.

PATWA's exclusive "excellence in governance" award category recognizes the efforts of countries, states, provinces, regions, districts, and cities and their elected representatives in promoting sustainable travel through policies, guidelines, and incentives for the hospitality, aviation, and tourism sectors. The awards are presented to government officials such as ministers, governors, parliamentarians, and mayors. PATWA is the first organization to establish awards dedicated to recognizing excellence in governance at regional, national, and international levels.

STATEMENTS

Yatan Ahluwalia, Secretary General of PATWA, stated, "We are proud to reach this significant milestone, especially at a time when travel and tourism have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels and shown tremendous resilience to continue growing, despite the challenges of war and climate change in some parts of the world."

He also mentioned that in keeping up with the changing times, a new category of awards for travel technology and service providers will be introduced at our 2025 edition. This will enable us to recognise the trailblazers from the growing travel tech sector and those who have excelled in providing services to the industry. Both are important contributors to the growth story but are rarely acknowledged for their contributions, and we plan to change that. Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) organizes the PATWA International Travel Awards yearly at ITB Berlin, the world's leading travel trade show.

The 2024 edition had nearly 150 attendees, including tourism ministers from 10 countries, 8 ambassadors, 4 governors, 2 senators, 33 awardees, over 75 international media members, 50 other guests, and five eminent speakers, all of whom were ministers. The upcoming 25th edition promises to be even bigger. The Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) is a non-profit, non-governmental, international media organization and an affiliate member of UN Tourism.