(VNF) - Central Da Nang city was honored as “Asia’s Leading Festival and Event Destination” at the World Travel Awards Asia & Australasia Gala Ceremony 2016 held in the city on October 15^th night.

The city was recognized in a race against eight destinations including Bangkok, Bejing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Macao, Seoul, Shanghai, and Singapore.

The World Travel Awards Asia (WTA) & Australasia Gala Ceremony 2016 saw the participation of over 200 guests from airlines, hotels, resorts and travel agencies in the regions, and domestic and foreign press agencies.

Representatives of Da Nang city officially received the Asia’s Leading Festival and Event award at the World Travel Awards annual awards ceremony for the tourism and hotel. (Photo: sggp.org.vn)

“It’s an honour for Da Nang and its people after years of efforts in building the city into a safe and friendly tourism site in central Vietnam,” vice chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Dang Viet Dung said at the gala dinner.

“We have long boosted the city as a destination for world events, and we will in the future in connection with UNESCO world heritage sites in Quang Binh, Hue and Hoi An,” he said.

At the gala dinner, the InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort—situated 600m above sea level in the city—was awarded three titles: Asia’s Leading Luxury Resort, Vietnam’s leading resort and Vietnam’s leading spa resort, while Naman Retreat in the city was also given title as Asia’s Leading Retreat.

The National Flag carrier Vietnam Airlines won two titles – the Asia’s Leading Airline (Economy Class) and Asia’s Cultural Airline among the 24 awards given at the event with the participation of nearly 200 representatives from the world travel agencies, media and hospitality experts.

The luxurious five-star Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, which hosted the event, received the “Asia’s Leading Luxury Resort” and the “World’s Leading Luxury Resort” titles from the WTA in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

The city has also three businesses listed in the nominations, including the Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, the Vinpearl Danang Resort & Villas and Vietravel.

Da Nang-Viet Nam team race in the Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race. (Photo: Internet)

Da Nang was the first city in Vietnam, and the Southeast Asian region, to host a leg of the Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race. The symbol of the Ngu Hanh Son Mountain (Marble Mountain) and the city’s tourism logo, Fantastic City, travelled around the globe.

The city has successfully organized the fifth Asian Beach Games early this month, and it continues to be a favourite rendezvous for annual international marathon the Ironman 70.3.

As planned, Da Nang will host the 2017 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) Summit and the annual Da Nang International Fireworks Competition next year.

The city hosted 4.6 million tourists, of which 1.25 million were foreigners, in 2015.

Initiated in 1993, the WTA was annually held to honor the best service suppliers in travel and tourism. Its awards are considered as Oscar awards of the tourism industry.

This year’s WTA included many nominations of the tourism industry, like airline, hotel, resort, travel agency, transport service, cruiser and destination.

The overview of InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort. (Photo: Internet)

( Compiled by VNF )