The Pacific Asia Travel Association announced that Macau Government Tourist Office's "Macau Welcomes You Passport" won the Grand Award.

"Macau Welcomes You Passport" was first launched in June December 2000 with its aim to boost up tourists traffic to Macau, extend their length of stay and encourage the tourists to spend in Macau.

Director of Macau Government Tourist Office, Mr. Joao Manuel Costa Antunes said: "The winning of Grand Award is an inspiration to us showing that our works are being recognized by the international. We will try our best to promote Macau's tourism in future. Here, I would like to thank the support of local trade and other entities which took part in the program."

The Grand Award will be presented on April 15, 2002 during a special luncheon at the 51st PATA Annual Conference in New Delhi, India, and will also be featured in the PATA 2002 Conference Daily. The winning entries will be on display at the Conference for all delegates to enjoy.

The PATA Grand Awards ("best of show") recognize exceptional achievement in a variety of endeavors, bringing acclaim to the best region¡¦s travel industry has to offer. The winning projects set industry standards for excellence and innovation.

Within the Gold Awards, PATA will present Grand Awards in the following categories: Environment, Marketing, Education & Training, and Heritage & Culture. Macau Government Tourist Office's "Macau Welcomes You Passport" has won the Grand Award for International Marketing Program.

The "Macau Welcomes You Passport" is one of the main programs of "Macau Welcomes Campaign" which was very successful when first launched in 2000. Macau Government Tourist Office has totally issued 300 thousand Passports. Tourists who join this program are entitled for discount privileges and have the chances to win a bunch of valuable prizes from the lucky draw.