Tourism Malaysia has received the Best ASEAN Marketing & Promotional Campaign award at the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) Awards for Excellence in Tourism 2008. Won for its highly-acclaimed “The Time Is Now, The Place Is Malaysia” campaign, the award was presented during the opening ceremony of the 27th ASEAN Tourism Forum last month, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, Mr Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who accepted the award on behalf of Tourism Malaysia said the award caps a very successful year for Malaysia.

“We celebrated our hugely popular 50th anniversary, and welcomed nearly 100,000 visitors, which we attribute directly to the campaign.

“Clearly our marketing and promotion was well received all around the world, and as a result the campaign’s success has prompted us to keep it running through much of 2008.”

The organiser presented five awards at the ceremony, including Best ASEAN Travel Article, Best ASEAN Poster, Best ASEAN New Tourist Attraction, and Best ASEAN Airline Programme.

President of ASEANTA, Mr Felix Cruz, said there were many good entries in the 48 received by the association, and he looks forward to seeing as many high-calibre submissions in next year’s categories of Best ASEAN Tourism Photo, Best ASEAN Tour Package, Best ASEAN Conservation Effort and Best ASEAN Cultural Preservation Effort.

The ASEANTA Awards for Excellence in Tourism are granted to organisations and individuals that have excelled in their contribution to the development and promotion of tourism in ASEAN. This year marked the 22nd time that the ASEANTA awards ceremony has been organised. The awards ceremony host country is rotated on an annual basis.