Dr.K.Chiranjeevi, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Tourism, Government of India yesterday announced the National Tourism Awards for 2011-2012 in New Delhi. The Awards will be given away at a function to be held in New Delhi today. The President of India will be the Chief Guest and present the awards in various categories.

Every year the award categories are reviewed with new categories being added to recognise excellence in diverse fields, in accordance with the requirements of changing times. “It is an ongoing endeavour of the MoT to diversify the tourism products of the country by developing and promoting new niche segments, so as to attract different categories of tourists with diverse interests and to promote India as a year-round destination,” said Dr.K.Chiranjeevi.

Andhra Pradesh has bagged the Best State/ UT for Comprehensive Development of Tourism. Warangal city in Andhra Pradesh has won the Best Heritage City award while Amritsar Heritage Walk and Delhi Heritage Walk have been declared joint winners of the best Heritage Walk award. The Best Tourism Film was bagged by Gujarat Tourism for the “Khushboo Gujarat Ki” Campaign. The Tourism Ministry has also announced special National Tourism Awards for Yann Martel, author of the book, Life of Pi, for promoting India (Puducherry and Munnar) through the film. You can check out the entire list here.

The MoT annually presents National Tourism Awards to various segments of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. These awards are being given since the early 1990s and are presented to state governments / union territories, classified hotels, heritage hotels, approved travel agents, tour operators and tourist transport operators, individuals and other private organisations in recognition of their performance in their respective fields and also to encourage healthy competition with an aim to promote tourism.