Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 3 - Kerala Tourism has been awarded the 2009 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award in the marketing destination category and has been selected as 'best in class' from amongst 236 entries worldwide.

The award ceremony will take place Sep 25 during the PATA Travel Mart 2009 in Hangzhou, China, according to a Kerala Tourism release issued here Monday.

Kerala Tourism also won national recognition, bagging the CNBC awards for Best Travel Destination and Best State Tourism Board, based on a survey conducted across 12 cities in the country.

Kerala Tourism Secretary V. Venu, who received the CNBC award at Bangalore Sunday, said that the award and recognition is a testament to Kerala Tourism's smart marketing strategies.

'Kerala not only gained an added season in the travel calendar, but also recorded the biggest growth in domestic tourist arrivals in the last 15 years with the campaign,' he said.

The campaign was conceptualised and executed by Stark Communications and it included 133 value-for-money packages by 177 industry partners, a dedicated microsite, and a toll free infoline.