Cambodia wins PATWA Best International Heritage Destination 2020 award

Cambodia won the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association’s (PATWA) award for Best International Hertigage Destination 2020 according to media reports.

What are the PATWA International Travel Awards?

The Pacific Area Travel Writers Association’s travel awards are awarded annually in March, usually at ITB Berlin, the world’s biggest travel and trade fair. The awards have been running since 1999. This year the physical awards ceremony were cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The PATWA website says: "A secret jury comprising PATWA members, officials and mystery travellers judge the shortlisted names that meet the necessary criteria. The nominees are evaluated on various pre-set standards with an extensive audit, as necessary. The winners are decided at the PATWA international council meeting held annually."

What did Cambodia win an award for?

Thourn Sinan, chairman of PATWA's Cambodia chapter, told Malaysian The Star that Cambodia won because of its rich heritage, public safety and friendliness of its people. Chuk Chumno, a spokesman for Cambodia's Tourism Ministry, added that Cambodia's award for Best Destination was because of the ancient temples, food and culture. He said "This award will help promote Cambodia to the rest of the world. We must participate in maintaining our heritage so we can win again in the coming years." The Kingdom of Cambodia earned approximately 4.91 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from 6.61 million foreign visitors in 2019, up by 12.4% from 2018, according to a Tourism Ministry report. It is believed the Best Destination award will help boost the country's tourism.