Monday, April 18 2005 15:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Tourism has bagged the 2005 PATA Grand Award for Heritage for its Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Project.

The Ministry gained the trust of the community and the local authorities to effectively conserve, restore and promote the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site as a high quality tourist destination.

The awards were presented at the 54th annual conference of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), which began its session at Macau Sar in China today (Apr 18, 2005).

Indian Airlines got the Gold Award for effecting service turnaround to perception turnaround while Thomas Cook, India, Limited received the award for Tour Operator/Travel Agent, of ITC Hotels, India, got the Corporate Environmental Award.

The Union Ministry of Tourism also bagged a Gold Award for its Print Media Advertisement, "Incredible Taj". The Multimedia and Journalism award went to SITA, India for its Consumer Travel Brochur, India Quest, Premium Vacations.

Kerala Tourism secured the E-Newsletter award for its newsletter and also bagged another one for heritage and culture for "A day with the masters".

"Domestic Tourism, The Next Big Wave" written by Kamal Gill got the award for the best business article.

Capt C P Krishnan Nair of Leela Hotels was presented Award of Merit for his work in "greening" the Leela, Mumbai and many public places in the city.