World Travel Awards present Graham Cooke, left, greets Maldives president Mohammed Waheed Hassan at the Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony at the Paradise Island Resort & Spa

Maldives president Mohammed Waheed Hassan has welcomed guests to the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony, hosted by Paradise Island Resort & Spa in the Maldives.

“Tourism in the Maldives has grown into a world class industry over the past 40 years, and today we have the honour of hosting the World Travel Awards,” Waheed Hassan said in his opening remarks.

“Visitors from across the Indian Ocean have been welcomed here to this wonderful resort, and we are here to celebrate the leaders of this fantastic industry.”

World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry.

Today, the WTA brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire.

In 2013, WTA will celebrate its historic 20th anniversary year.

The annual programme is renowned as the most prestigious and comprehensive in the travel and tourism industry.

In 2011, 791,358 individual votes were cast by travel professionals and consumers in 171 countries.

Each year WTA covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective successes within each key geographical region.

The Grand Tour of WTA gala ceremonies are regarded as milestone events in the industry calendar, attended by the industry’s key decision makers, chief figure heads and the leading trade and consumer media.