DUBAI — The regions’ first ever, one of a kind recognition, The MALT Excellence Awards concluded recently highlighting, honoring and celebrating path breaking achievements in the field of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events (MICE), business and luxury travel. The awards felicitated not only the outstanding contributions and achievements of governments, business organizations, and individuals that have successfully used Meetings, Incentives, Conference, Events (MICE) as a key tool to increase brand awareness, customer and employee engagement but also organizers, planners and buyers of business and luxury travel, who have tailor-made outstanding, creative and innovative programs for their internal/external stakeholders.

The MALT Excellence Awards was held in conjunction with the MICE Arabia & Luxury Travel (MALT) Congress at held at the Rixos Premium, Dubai. The congress highlighted the positive market sentiment in the Middle East for MICE, business and luxury travel and witnessed business at an all-time high with select 100 % Middle East buyers, world class suppliers and more than 20 hours of networking opportunities.

The coveted TMC of the year award was bagged by ITL World, the award was received by Rafeeq Mohammed, chief executive officer, ITL World. Speaking on the importance of this recognition he commented, “ITL World prides itself on being a game-changer in the industry and to receive this accolade for our services towards business travel and the MICE segment, is a matter of great pride. This is a fantastic endorsement of our unique approach to delivering exceptional customer service, the industry-leading technology we employ and the resolute commitment and expertise of our team. I share this win with them.”

Receiving the award for Exceptional Association Event of the Year, on behalf of MCI Middle East, Ajay Bhojwani, managing director, MCI Middle East said “Our ethos at MCI has remained simple: ‘When people come together, magic happens’. Building and delivering a meeting is a lot of hard work. We believe the constituents that make a great meeting are good planning, getting the small and big things right and working together as a team. Working with the local committee, IFSO and bringing our talents and partners together helped us achieve a memorable event. We would like to thank all the people involved with this Congress for their support and trust; we are truly honored and humbled to receive this prestigious award.”

Winners were recognized across 13 categories at this high level, by-invitation-only gathering.

The full list of award winners is as follows:

Corporate Level

Corporate Travel Team of the year – Saudi Aramco; Most Innovative Corporate Team Building Program of the year- In the Middle East — Nahdi Medical Company ; Best Incentive program in an International Destination — Lushescapes; Best Incentive program in the Middle East — Havells India Limited; Corporate Event of the Year - Thumbay Group; MICE & Travel Team of the Year — Travco Travels & Tours; Exceptional Association Event of the Year — MCI Middle East LLC; Events Marketing Team of the Year — DUCAB.

Travel Super Heroes

TMC of the Year - Luxury Travel - Afrah Travel Agency: TMC of the Year – MICE - Alfaris Int'l Travel and Tourism; TMC of the Year Award – ITL World.

Individual Level

Elite Luxury Travel Planner - Manahil Al Mohaimeed, CEO, Al Muayed Travel, KSA; Rising Star of the Year Award - Biju Nair, general manager, LuLu International Travel.

Commenting on the success of the MALT Excellence awards this year, Sidh NC, director, QNA International said, “The MALT Excellence Awards aims to recognize and acknowledge some of the great initiatives of organizations and individuals from the Middle East that are making MICE tourism more attractive and creating a great demand for new experiential travel to exotic destinations.” — SG