HONG KONG, Nov. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Travel Awards Asia & Australasia Gala Ceremony 2015 was held in Hong Kong on October 29, 2015. The Chinese tourism conglomerate HNA Tourism Group (HNA Tourism) was once again honored with two World Travel Awards (WTA): China's Leading Travel Management Company and Asia's Leading Integrated Tourism Group. This year, HNA Tourism competed for world-class awards that are open to candidates from all over the world.
While presenting the awards to HNA Tourism, World Travel Awards president and founder Graham E. Cooke said, "HNA Tourism first joined the race for the World Travel Awards 2014 and was honored with the title of Asia's Leading Tourism Management Company, becoming the first and only Chinese tourism company to receive the award. Following the increasing number of international partnerships and investments this year, the international community has turned its attention and given deserved recognition to the company. We believe that the firm has became a major player in the global tourism market.
As a leader in the Chinese travel market, HNA Tourism owns and operates businesses in all segments of the industry chain, consistently adhering to its sustainable strategy and continuing to diversify its portfolio as part of its process of internationalization. Over the past two years, the company has expanded the range of its global travel service network. In 2014, the company invested in Europe's third largest hotel group NH Hotel Group and, as its largest shareholder, integrated the hotel's global resources into the group's tourism ecosystem. Las year, the company acquired a stake in South Africa's largest hotel and entertainment group Tsogo Sun, further complementing its travel network across Africa. At the same time, HNA Tourism has expanded into the high-end business aviation market through the acquisition of the world's leading business aviation service provider Hawker Pacific, building the largest fixed-base operator network in the Asia Pacific region. In 2015, the firm completed an investment in Red Lion Hotel, a U.S. West Coast-based hotel chain, further strengthening its portfolio in the North American market. The company has also reached strategic cooperation agreements with the government of French Polynesia and with France-based PVCP Group among others.
Since establishment, HNA Tourism has been committed to contributing to socioeconomic development, engaging with all sector of society and giving back to the communities whether close or far from where it operates. Following the philosophy of HNA Group, the company's concept of social responsibility focuses on encouraging kindness and honesty across society, and, with this in mind, the company has launched a series of initiatives such as "Walking with the Youth", which has made enormous contributions to communities for the past five consecutive years. Looking forward, HNA Tourism plan is to continuously optimize its portfolio of businesses, enhance its competitiveness and fulfill its corporate social responsibility, as part of its overall mission of building a world class company and a thought leader for the tourism industry.
The WTA was launched in 1993 to acknowledge and recognize excellence across the world's travel and tourism industry. Every year, it selects the best of the industry through the votes of more than 650,000 travel professional and high-end travel consumers, the awards categories include leading hotel, leading airline and leading tourism company, among others. Each year, the WTA Gala Ceremony attracts hundreds of leaders from the tourism industry. The WTA has been named as "The Oscars of the Travel Industry" by the Wall Street Journal. An award from the organization is regarded as the highest accolade across the world's travel and tourism industry. World-renowned tourism groups such as TUI Group and American Express have been former recipients of the awards.
HNA Tourism's winning of the WTA again demonstrates that Chinese tourism firms have established their rightful presence within the sector. Looking ahead, HNA Tourism is decided to focus on its global growth strategy by speeding up the building of its international portfolio, in an effort to play
a main role in the development and transformation of the world's travel and tourism industry.
