Industry stakeholders who have made outstanding contributions to promote tourism in Asia Pacific region can now submit entries to the 2008 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Awards program, which was sponsored by the Macao Special Administrative Region Government Tourist Office (MGTO), the Macao Daily Times reported on Monday.

The PATA has set the deadline for this year's submission entries to the Gold Awards, aimed to set industry standards for excellence and innovation, on April 30, the daily quoted a PATA press release as saying.

Judged by panels of experts, the Awards recognized achievement in six broad categories, including marketing campaign, environment, heritage and culture, education and training, marketing media and travel journalism, according to the PATA press release.

"Our continuous support to this prestigious awards program for 13 years mirrors Macao's strong commitment to contribute to the development of the travel industry in our region, " MGTO Director Joao Manuel Costa Antunes was quoted by the press release as saying.

In total, PATA will present up to 25 Gold Awards and four elite Grand Awards at a special luncheon on September 19, during the association's Travel Mart 2008 in Hyderabad, India.

Winners of the Awards will be entitled to leverage the prestigious Gold Awards 2008 logo on their websites and collateral.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2008)