SKAL Awards: Celebrating the best in Philippine tourism
The achievements of exemplary individuals and organizations in the Philippine tourism industry were recently honored at the 26th SKAL International Tourism Personality Awards held at the New World Makati Hotel.
“This award gives due recognition to tourism personalities who have lived up to SKAL’s goals and objectives, and have invaluably served and contributed to the growth of the travel and tourism industry,” said SKAL International-Makati and SKAL National Committee president Robert Lim Joseph Jr.
SKAL is a professional organization of tourism leaders around the world promoting global tourism and friendship.
The Philippine STAR, the first newspaper to regularly promote Philippine tourism in mainstream media, received the Hall of Fame Award for Newspaper of the Year category.
STAR president and CEO Miguel Belmonte, when he accepted the award, said: “I’m lucky to be working in a newspaper where we have the excellent travel writers, the best in the business.”
He added it’s a commitment of The STAR to feature travel destinations like resorts, hotels, even restaurants to help boost Philippine tourism and the economy.
SKAL also gave recognition to two STAR columnists that night: Valeriano “Bobit” Avila and Eduardo “Edu” Jarque Jr. both received their International Tourism Personality Awards for media advocacy category and newspaper lifestyle-travel and tourism category respectively.
Other awardees included Plantation Bay Resort and Spa owner Emmanuel Gonzalez (Hall of Fame for Resort Hotel category), Bulong Pulungan founder Lourdes Siytangco (Media Group category), Megaworld Corp. chairman and president Dr. Andrew Tan (Leader in Integrated Tourism Enterprise category), Philippine Airlines president and COO Jaime Bautista (Skalleague of the Year), Bonifacio Landmark and Realty Development Corp. president Hans Hauri (Tourism Association category), Turkish Airlines country manager Erhan Balaban (Foreign Airline category), ABSCBN COO for Broadcast Cory Vidanes (Media Personality of the Year), Bloomberry Resorts Corp. chairman and CEO Enrique Razon (Integrated Resort and Casino category), Megawide Construction Corp. chairman and CEO Michael Cosiquien (for the development of the Mactan Cebu International Airport) and Pan Pacific Travel Corp. Dr. James Dy (Inbound and Outbound Travel Agency category).
The awards night coincided with the 35th SKAL International-Makati founding anniversary. SKAL is a Scandinavian acronym for Sundhet, Karlek, Alder and Lycka, which means health, love, long life and happiness.