ITB Berlin was chosen as the platform to present trophies to 2004 World Travel Award winners who were unable to participate in the Gala ceremony which was held in Barbados in December 2004. Media and exhibitors of ITB Berlin were invited to witness these presentations.Following Dubai’s success at ITB World Travel Awards 2004, Graham Cooke, President, World Travel Awards, presented Khalid bin Sulayem, Director General of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) with World Travel Award trophies for the following categories:
World’s Leading Destination

World’s Leading Tourist and Convention Bureau

Middle East’s Leading Destination

Middle East’s Leading Tourist and Convention Bureau

Mohammed K. Bin Hareb Al Muhairy, Director, Operations and Marketing Division, DTCM, commented: “We are very pleased and honoured to have received this international award for Dubai. I think that Dubai, as a growing city in the world deserves to be recognised by the travellers and tourists for its unique and different variety if attraction that it offers travellers. Hopefully we will continue offering our quality of service to travellers”.

“ITB is one of the best venues for us internationally and we consider it to be one of the best exhibitions worldwide. Receiving the award here at ITB is a great platform and will help us to promote the city and it will give us a lot of recognition internationally”.

During the same ceremony, The International Congress Centre (ICC) were presented with an accolade for their triumph in the category:

World’s Leading Conference and Convention Centre.
Major contendors which the ICC Berlin saw off included Hong King Convention & Exhibition Centre, The International Conference Centre Chicago, The ExCel London, the Las Vegas Convention Centre and the World Trade Centre, Dubai.

According to Raimund Hosch, CEO Messe Berlin Gmbh: “With visitors spending 120 million euros each year, such mega-sized conferences substantially boost consumer purchasing power in the city, a considerable part of which converts into direct tax income for Berlin. Even the upkeep of ICC is a costly affair, the overall impact on the city is enough reason to keep this venue in business.”

Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort and Spa were presented with an award for the following category:

Middle East’s Leading Spa Resort.
Siggi Von Brandt, Director Business Development, Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort and Spa commented: “On behalf of the whole team I can say that we are very proud to receive this prestigious award and it’s a result of our work for 25 years, which we celebrated last year in the meetings industry - and I think we deserved it”.

“Any award is important and as the World Travel Award is geared towards tourism, we are very happy to receive it. It shows the quality, the dedication and the passion for that industry. It gives us credibility that we really run a fantastic operation, so it’s very important for us”.

Ravi Bhirani, Director of Sales, added: “It is extremely useful to get the award here at ITB because every travel professional is on the lookout so there is double the exposure”.
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