The Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards 2017 came to a resounding finale with the Award Presentation and Gala Dinner Event held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on the 23rd May. The KLMTA 2017 is also organized by the Kuala Lumpur Tourism Bureau under Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and this year’s event was the third edition of the tri-annual industry awards program.
Previous editions were organized in 2011 and 2014. For this years Kuala Lumpur Mayor's Tourism Awards, 650 guests that included Kuala Lumpur tourism industry players, related government agencies and members of the media attended the prestigious event.
The guest of honour for the evening was no other than the Minister of Tourism & Culture, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Bin Abdul Aziz. In the Mayor's speech, he mentioned that Kuala Lumpur was ranked as the 7th Most Visited City in the World according to the Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index for 2016.
The city received 12.02 million visitors, an increase of 7.4% from the previous year of 11.19 million visitors, while the total revenue garnered from this volume of visitors in 2016 was USD11.3 billion.
Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Award 2017 Winners List
Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution
Tan Sri Datuk Yong Poh Kon
Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping
Accommodation Category (5-Star Hotel)
Platinum Award – Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Gold Award – Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur
Accommodation Category (4-Star Hotel)
Platinum Award – Impiana KLCC Hotel & Spa
Gold Award – Ambassador Row Hotel Suites by Lanson Place
Accommodation Category (Budget Hotel)
Platinum Award – Tai Ichi Hotel
Gold Award – Sungei Wang Hotel
Dining Category (Fine Dining Restaurant)
Platinum Award – Taka by Sushi Saito
Gold Award – Nobu Kuala Lumpur
Dining Category (Home Grown Restaurant)
Gold Award – Serai Restaurant
Gold Award – Dancing Fish
Dining Category (Food Court)
Platinum Award – Lot 10 Hutong
Gold Award – Quizinn by Rasa
Tourist Attraction Category (Family Entertainment)
Platinum Award – KL Bird Park
Gold Award – Aquaria KLCC
Tourist Attraction Category (Culture, Arts & Heritage)
Platinum Award – Royal Selangor
Gold Award – Kuala Lumpur City Gallery
Shopping Mall Category
Platinum Award – Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
Gold Award – Sunway Putra Mall
Medical Tourism Category
Platinum Award – KPJ Tawakkal Specialist Hospital & KPJ Tawakkal Health Centre
Gold Award – Institut Jantung Negara
Education Tourism Category
Platinum Award – University of Malaya
Gold Award – Berjaya University College of Hospitality
Mayor’s Commendable Award for Front Liners
Ms Lim Hwi Shuen (The Federal Kuala Lumpur)
A total of over 500 nominations were received for the 14 categories and subcategories, and only 449 were qualified for the first round of judging where nominee’s submissions were scrutinized and shortlisted for the final round. For the final rounds of judging, the panels of judges conducted site visits and even sampled the products and services first hand.
Continuing with the system of voting from the previous editions of the programme, the judges scores made up 95% of the total marks awarded to each nominee, while public voting made up the remaining 5% of the marks.
Members of the public were invited to vote for their favourite establishment by logging onto the official awards programme website and registering.
Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Award: What's Missing?
While the KL Mayor's Tourism Awards focuses on the mainstream industry, I have suggested that they include a digital category in 2014, but it was left to deaf ears.
Unfortunately, the committee is either not interested or just not bothered about the digital sector. We all know that digital is currently the number one method for tourism around the world, including Malaysia.
The key element is how tourist or visitors find attractions, places to stay or places to eat. A good 80% of this comes from online branding and marketing and it is those who are actively promoting these places, that should also be recognized.
Even players like Sarawak Tourism and Sabah Tourism have acknowledged digital and online tourism as one of the awards in their tourism awards since five years ago, and Tourism Malaysia also has a category for digital or online, so why can't the Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Award have this? We shall see for the next awards.