Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura came away with four important international tourism awards during the ITB Berlin 2019 tourism show on Thursday.
The PATWA International Travel Awards, given out by the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association, are in their twenty-first year of existence. Given out annually at the Berlin travel show, they are considered the Oscars of the tourism sphere.
This year, Greece snagged the all-important “Best Destination – Leisure” award, while Kountoura herself won the prize for the “Best Tourism Minister Worldwide.”
Kountoura also received the “Woman Achiever” award from the Institute of South Asian Women for her contribution to the care of women and children. And the Greek minister received yet another prize, this one from the International Institute for Peace through Tourism, which recognized her for Greece’s successful strategy to develop tourism.
Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA), Kountoura said it was a “major recognition and important achievement” for Greek tourism, and dedicated the awards to Greece and the Greeks, who are “the most hospitable people in the world.”
She thanked Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for placing his trust in her and “sharing with me the vision for the development of Greek tourism” and the ministers that always supported her. She also thanked the tourism ministry itself, the National Tourism Organization, her own team and the private sector, which she says “worked just as hard for this success.”
“From my heart, a big thank you for all those that worked so that we might have this excellent result,” Kountoura concluded.
Source: AMNA
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