The inaugural Presidential Awards for Travel and Tourism was an effort by the local tourist industry to recognise and reward excellence in the various areas of the travel trade. It was a highly contested affair with the participation of all major players in the industry.

The ceremony at the Presidential secretariat was well attended and the awards were given away by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

Masters DDB carried away the Presidential Award for Best Effort in Tourism Marketing for the launch of Chaaya Hotels and Resorts. This re-branding effort of John Keells Hotels’ 3 and 4 star class properties was a total 360 degree campaign that included not just the traditional Press, Radio, TV and outdoor but intense PR as well as a grand launch event at the ITB fair in Berlin for which Masters’ were required to pull out all the stops in planning and coordination. Jayantissa Kehelpannala - Vice President of John Keells Holdings and the CEO of Chaaya Hotels and Resort said that "We had a totally new concept in tourism and as such we needed a totally fresh approach to its advertising, and that is exactly what Masters came up with".

While the ITB part of the launch involved precision planning between Masters and its German partner in the worldwide DDB network – DDB Berlin, the real challenge came in reflecting Chaaya’s innovative new strategy of Experience Packages. The CEO of Masters, Jerome de Silva said that ‘We grabbed the opportunity to shake up tourism marketing and came up with the winning campaign – One Journey. Many Paths’.