TOURISM Malaysia’s “The Time Is Now, The Place Is Malaysia” campaign won the prestigious Asean Tourism Association (Aseanta) Awards for Excellence in Tourism 2008 for the Best Asean Marketing and Promotional Campaign category.

I read a local newspaper yesterday. I’m so proud after reading this great news. My heart said “WOW!!”. Congratulations Malaysia. Then, I smile by myself. Someone looking at me and then..he also smiling with no reason. Today I want to share this news with you. Here is the full article:

The award was presented during the opening ceremony of the 27th Asean Tourism Forum on Jan 22 at the Impact International Exhibition and Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Receiving the award for Malaysia was Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor who gave credit to the creativity of the teams in Tourism Malaysia and its advertising agencies.

The campaign was promoted widely all over the world, enticing potential tourists to come to Malaysia and discover all its attractions.

The organisers presented five awards including Best Asean Travel Article, Best Asean Poster, Best Asean New Tourist Attraction and Best Asean Airline Programme.

Aseanta received 48 entries for the various categories this year. Its president Felix Cruz said there were many good entries but only the best were chosen. He hoped that there would be winners for next year’s Best Asean Tourism Photo, Best Asean Tour Package, Best Asean Conservation Effort and Best Asean Cultural Preservation Effort categories.

The Aseanta Awards for Excellence in Tourism is 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 were held. The awards presentation ceremony host country is rotated on annual basis.

Formed in 1981, Aseanta is the umbrella organisation for national airlines, travel agencies and hotel associations of the 10 Asean countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

Once again..congratulations Malaysia. “Malaysia Boleh”.