Conde Nast Traveller India Announces Results of the Readers’ Travel Awards 2016

NEW DELHI:
The sixth edition of Condé Nast Traveller Reader’s Travel Awards (RTA) took place at The Lodhi, New Delhi, recently and was attended by select invitees comprising industry leaders, influencers and marquee names from travel, tourism and government bodies. Like every year, the Readers Travel Awards, chosen through a readers’ voting process spanning across 2 months, recognized the best in the travel industry across hotels, destinations, airlines, spas, websites, apps, cruise lines and more.
Hosted by the beautiful Aditi Rao Hydari, the prestigious property also recognized the efforts of those who work towards bringing pride to our nation. Paralympics gold winner Devendra Jhajharia was awarded the ‘Excellence Award’ along with Ratish Nanda for his contribution to heritage conservation. Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee was lauded for putting Indian fashion in the global spotlight. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Aman Nath for his contribution to heritage hospitality.
The glittering ceremony saw several eminent personalities like Chief Guest Vinod Zutshi (Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India), Valsa Nair Singh (Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Government of Maharashtra), Farooq Ahmad Shah (Secretary to Government, Tourism Department and Floriculture, Gardens & Parks Department, Government of Jammu & Kashmir), Chitranganee Wagiswara (High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India), Dominic Asquith (British High Commissioner to India), Thierry Morel (Second Counsellor in the Embassy of France, New Delhi), Owen Jenkins from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, UV Jose (Director, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala), amongst many other dignitaries.
The Condé Nast Traveller India Readers’ Travel Awards are closely watched, as they are a barometer of the market’s changing tastes and preferences. Its discerning audiences are influencers in travel, and vote for their favourites across various categories. With no nominations for the award categories and voting left open to readers, Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards are considered indicative of what discerning travellers really want and enjoy.
The RTA showcased some interesting results: Leh-Ladakh and Gujarat are high up on the discerning Indian traveller’s wish-list. Internationally, they are most keen to visit China (for leisure) and Sri Lanka (which has witnessed a slew of new developments). On airlines, it seems even affluent travellers put a premium on punctuality—low-cost airline Indigo emerged the winner again, while Vistara bagged the runner-up spot in the Favourite Airline category. Etihad Airways bagged the title of Favorite International Airline for the first time in the history of RTA.
Offbeat boutique hotels like Khyber Gulmarg Resort & Spa and RAAS Jodhpur were also honoured, along with iconic properties such as the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai and The Oberoi Gurgaon. Brand new hotels like the Intercontinental Chennai at Mahabalipuram, Ritz-Carlton Bali and Four Seasons Dubai International Financial Centre were recognized by the voters, proving their propensity for luxury hotels. The Marriott, now the world’s largest hotel group since the acquisition of Starwood, bagged a total of four awards, including Favourite Business Hotel (overseas) for the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai and St Regis Mumbai (in India).
Commenting on the Awards, Chief Guest, Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India said, “I am very happy to felicitate the leaders of the travel and tourism industry. India is now a force to reckon with in the world of tourism. Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards is a unique opportunity where the leaders of travel and tourism industry of this country can be seen under one roof. The travel industry statistics for this year paint an optimistic picture. It has been growing consistently for both foreign tourist arrivals and domestic tourism. The annual world growth is 4 to 4.5 % whereas India’s annual growth is 4.5%. India is witnessing a double digit growth of 10.5%, foreign exchange earnings is witnessing an impressive 14.7%, domestic tourism is booming and we expect to clock a record of 1.7 billion domestic tourist visits as compared to 1.4 billion domestic tourist visits last year. The airline industry is growing at faster pace. And we hope to continue to grow.”
Divia Thani, Editor, Condé Nast Traveller India said, “The Condé Nast Traveller audience forms India’s most discerning travellers. They are way ahead of the curve when it comes to their tastes in travel—they set the trends; they don’t follow them. We have seen their participation and enthusiasm for the CNT Readers’ Travel Awards grow every single year. This is why the CNT RTA are referred to as the Oscars of Travel. The turnout is—as usual—fantastic: the crème de la crème of India’s travel, hospitality and tourism industry come out for this night, and we are delighted to have the chance to bring such influential people together each year.
She added, “The awards are a barometer of what the discerning, affluent Indian traveller looks for and appreciates when he or she travels. It puts into perspective what destinations, hotels, airlines and other travel companies should focus on, helps them understand patterns and determine future trends. It is an honor to announce these results with the winners and the industry at large.”
Winner of the Excellence Award for bagging two prestigious gold medals at this year’s Paralympics, Devendra Jhajharia, said, “I am very humbled and overwhelmed by the respect and standing ovation I have received at the Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards 2016. Thank you for giving me this Excellence Award. I am honoured to be the first Indian Paralympian to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. And I am confident that I will bring back gold for my country from the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics 2020.”
Ratish Nanda, Projects Director of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, who was felicitated for his contribution to heritage conservation, commented, “I receive this award very humbly on behalf of the other contracts for art of conservation community. I think in India we have 1000s of years of heritage and we have all seen what better preserved heritage can do for tourism. At Humayun’s Tomb, we got a 1000% increase in visitor numbers as part of the conservation effort.
Tourism and heritage can do a lot more together in a much more sustainable way than what we are doing now.”
Concluding the ceremony was the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to Aman Nath for his contribution to heritage hospitality. On receiving the award, he said, “A lifetime achievement award is formidable. I am happy that now ‘Neemranification’ has become a term used for restoration of ruined properties to give them a facelift so they can live on and create a viable cycle by which they would be maintained even after we are not here. One of the secretaries of tourism mentioned that he had travelled all over India, and he had met not 100 but one or two thousand people who said that Neemrana gave them courage to do their house, their fort, rather than just give it away to a chain. And I think that is very important, because knowing the size of
India, it’s not going to be easy to take on this task.”
The annual Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards has set the industry benchmarks in the hospitality and travel industry year on year, since its inception in 1989 in the United States of America.
Kama Ayurveda was the associate partner and NDTV Good Times was the TV partner for the event. The Readers’ Travel Award 2016 winners will be featured in the December 201
6 – January 2017 issue of Condé Nast Traveller India.