The Oman National Ferries Company has won, for a second year in row, the prestigious World Travel Awards Responsible Tourism Award in 2013.

The company’s achievement was announced during the World Travel Awards ceremony held in Doha, Qatar.

Over 1,500 candidates attended the event from hotels, travel agents, airlines, and tour operators, in addition to specialised tourism establishments.

NFC was able to come ahead of several global companies and win the World Responsible Tourism Award.

This achievement adds to the remarkable record of the company, which won awards two awards last year; namely the Middle East Responsible Tourism Award, and the World Sustainable Tourism Award.

The World Travel Awards, established in 1993, focuses on honouring the best establishments and companies in the travel sector worldwide, according to opinions of experts and specialists in the travel sector and based on global voting that, involves 171 countries.

Following the announcement of the award Mehdi Al Abduwani, chief executive officer, NFC commented: “It is a great honour for an Omani company to win such global title in one of the most important competitions in the travel sector, after only five years from the company’s operational launch.”

Al Abduwani continued: “This award is a practical testament to the pursuit of the company’s successful path, focus on maintaining the highest global standards of performance, and striving to achieve the various objectives of comprehensive development, in addition to being a fundamental partner in the execution of the development plans and projects in the Sultanate.”

Al Abduwani indicated that NFC’s main objectives centre around three key areas.

Firstly, achieving economic growth, through boosting the economic and trade activity among the various coastal regions of the Sultanate, and promoting the tourism sector.

Secondly, protecting the natural resources and environment through environment friendly advanced technology.

Thirdly, NFC focuses on achieving social development through the excellent services it provides in the fields of creating employment opportunities for the Omani youth, and nationalizing the maritime activity from technical and administrative sides.

Additionally, the company strives to support regional development through extending its services to the small costal population clusters.

The company also sponsors several social, media, sports, educational, and environmental initiatives in such a way that contributes to the success of the activities of the various civil societies and non-governmental organizations.