A total of 39 personalities and companies from Malaysia have been recognised as winners at the second ASEAN Food & Travel Awards 2023.

The annual award ceremony organised by the culinary and tourism portal, ASEAN Food & Travel Media in collaboration with two other publications namely ‘Top 10 of Asia’ and ‘NiagaTimes’ was held to celebrate the players of the culinary and tourism industry in the Southeast Asian region who remain committed to managing their respective businesses and have achieved outstanding successes in their own respective fields. 

The event was officiated by Datuk Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, the Director General of Tourism Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

According to Dato’ R. Rajendran, the CEO of Top 10 of Asia publication, programmes like this play a role in motivating local entrepreneurs to reach for greater heights, even in the international arena. Therefore, the successful running of this program can be considered a huge achievement to inject the spirit of entrepreneurship into the industry and community.

Dato’ R. Rajendran with Datuk Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, the Director General of Tourism Malaysia.

Meanwhile, RHA Media’s Managing Editor, the publisher for ASEAN Food and Travel Media, Lee Seng Chee said, the awards event themed ‘Honouring Outstanding Malaysian Personalities and SMEs in the Food & Travel Industry’ saw as many as 10 award categories such as top personalities, hospitality, restaurants, food and beverages, travel agencies and others were presented at the ceremony.

‘ASEAN Food & Travel Awards’ was established to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of personalities and businesses across all key sectors of the food, travel, tourism and hospitality industries in the ASEAN region. This event is organised by ASEAN Food & Travel media, in line with the media’s objective to showcase and promote the best that ASEAN has to offer in the food and travel arena and at the same time give recognition to the industry’s outstanding personalities and organisations that put ASEAN on the world map.

The awards serve to celebrate and give recognition to outstanding businesses and individuals in the food & travel industry in the ASEAN region. This event in Kuala Lumpur, specifically honours outstanding Malaysian personalities, SMEs and entrepreneurs in the food and travel industry that have excelled in their respective fields.

The panel of judges consisting of media experts, researchers and food and travel critics impartially judged all entries received and they evaluated each entry based on the criteria provided. The judges presented their final list of winners for the purpose of award recognition.

Among the award recipients were Park Inn by Radisson Putrajaya Hotel, DeWan 1958 by Chef Wan, Boraombak Putrajaya, Geno Hotel, hotelier Christina Toh, Marini’s on 57, and celebrity chefs like Chef Dato’ Zamzani, Chef Sherson Lian, Chef Ili Sulaiman and Chef Dato’ Ismail Ahmad.    

Datuk Zainuddin said that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia and in particular Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board truly appreciate all the contributions and efforts of the industry players as the ministry can only achieve all its goals through them.