The Philippines and the Department of Tourism (DOT) have been nominated for multiple awards under the Asia category in the 2021 World Travel Awards (WTA).
"I am very excited to share with you that, once again, the organizers of the WTA have shortlisted the DOT and the Philippines for multiple awards under the Asia category of its annual program, which is now on its 28th run this year," Tourism Sec. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said on Wednesday, March 31.
"In addition to our efforts to expand the source markets for the Philippines and prepare for the eventual relaxation of our travel restrictions, we also put equal importance in maintaining the country’s image as a top-of-mind destination among international travelers through the help of notable industry platforms such as the WTA," she added.
According to Puyat, the Philippines was nominated as Asia's leading beach and dive destination while the DOT was shortlisted as the leading tourist board in the Asian region.
Cebu was also listed as one of the nominees under Asia's leading wedding destination category, while Manila’s Walled City of Intramuros was nominated as leading tourist attraction in Asia and the World.
Intramuros bagged the leading tourist attraction citation for both the World and Asia categories of the WTA in 2020.
The DOT chief also urged the public to support the local tourism industry by voting for the Philippines to show that the country is "even more determined to bounce back despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic."
“On behalf of the DOT, I am enjoining the support of our industry stakeholders, and Filipino and foreign travelers to support the Philippines in the 2021 WTA. By casting our votes, we can show that the Philippine tourism industry is alive," Puyat said.
The 2021 WTA online voting period for Asia will run from March 30 to August 16 through the WTA portal at worldtravelawards.com/nominees/2021/asia.
Online users may simply register for an account on the WTA portal using a valid e-mail address.
Users who are members of the travel industry have the option to apply for an upgraded WTA account by providing additional details such as company name and association number upon registration and fulfilling the minimum requirement of 10 votes.
Votes by regular users count as one, while votes cast by travel industry voters count as two