India’s expert handling of relief, rehabilitation and rebuilding in the two natural calamities that hit the country last year has earned it this year’s New Frontiers Award. India saw twin tragedies last year – heavy floods and landslides devastated its northern state of Uttarakhand in June, with a cyclone causing significant fatalities on its east coast barely five months later.
Mark Walsh, Portfolio Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, presented the award of recognition to the Indian contingent during a special session at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. The award was received by Devinder Singh, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Tourism and P.K. Ashok Babu, Deputy Consul General/Acting Consul General of India in the UAE.
The New Frontiers Award was launched in 2005 to recognise outstanding contribution to tourism development in the face of overwhelming adversity. Contributing to the recovery process, the recipient of the award, India will receive US$ 10,000 worth of exhibition space at Arabian Travel Market 2015. The affected tourism authorities are offered a platform to send a message of renewal to the travel industry, highlighting their rebuilding efforts.
Philippines and Pakistan were the two other nominees for the award this year, the former for its efforts to rebuild after the Bohol earthquake and Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, and the latter for actions that followed a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that devastated its Baluchistan province.
