It was a celebratory affair when Sunway Putra Mall emerged as the winner in the twentieth edition of the Malaysia’s Tourism Awards 2016/ 2017 award presentation ceremony at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) recently.
The win saw the refurbished mall being named as the winner for best Shopping Centre under Integrated Shopping Centre category. It was the mall’s maiden attempt for the award.
Tourism Malaysia chairman, Datuk Siew Ka Wei presented the award to Sunway Putra Mall General Manager Ms Phang Sau Lian alongside with Deputy Director General (Promotion) Tourism Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Abdul Khani Daud and Deputy Director General (Planning) Tourism Malaysia, Dato’ Chong Yoke Har in front of Malaysia’s various tourism industry players and related government agencies.
Also present at the ceremony was, Minister of Tourism and Culture, Dato’ Seri Nazri bin Abdul Aziz, Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Seri Mirza Mohammad Taiyab and Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron.
The Tourism Minister had earlier paid tribute to industry players and captains for coming together amidst rising regional competition and limited resources towards the country’s tourism sector. These awards were recognition towards tourism industry players contribution for boosting the country’s tourism attraction.
Sunway Malls & Theme Parks CEO, Mr HC Chan said the win was meaningful for the mall group as this was the 6th time Sunway Malls was bestowed the prestigious award by the Ministry.
“We like to thank the Ministry for their continued belief and support towards Sunway Malls. Apart from being the 6th time winning this award, what made it extra special is Sunway Malls has won this award for 8 consecutive years,” he added.
Sunway Putra Mall picked up this award for year 2016/2017 edition while Sunway Pyramid won the 2010/2011, 2012/2013 and 2014/2015 editions.
“This tourism award is another milestone for Sunway Putra Mall, despite being only just over two years in operation after the refurbishment, we are now recognized by the Minister of Tourism and Culture as the top Integrated Shopping Centre that promotes Malaysia.” said Phang.
In addition, Sunway Group garnered the special Prime Minister’s Award at the 20th Malaysia Tourism Awards Ceremony. The award was a personal selection by Prime Minister and the Tourism and Culture Minister for an organisation’s exceptional contributions to the tourism industry.
The Malaysia Tourism Awards is held once every two years, recognises and honours local and International tourism industry players for outstanding and innovative products and services. It also acts as an incentive for participants to strive for the highest level of professionalism and quality in both products and services. In its twentieth edition, this year’s awards saw over 665 nominations for 14 categories being received. Qualified entries went through a stringent selection by a panel of independent judges.
The winning of this award added another feather to the cap for the mall tourism offering excellence. Sunway Putra Mall had received a gold award from Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Award 2017 and recognised by the Ministry of Tourism & Culture as a Malaysia Tourism Quality Assurance (MyTQA) certified mall that delivered outstanding service quality and tourism products.
Among the unique initiatives included DBKL Tourism Bureau appointment of the mall’s customer service representative as DBKL’s brand ambassador to promote tourists spots in Kuala Lumpur, promoting at overseas tourism missions alongside Tourism Malaysia and many others.
The mall among others also partnered with international movies for activation, staging popular artistes appearances and collaborating with Malaysian Airlines and Matta Fair to promote KL as a tourism destination.
The mall is home to international, regional and national retail brands with the likes of H&M. Uniqlo, Mango, Max Fashion, G2000, MONKI, Braun Buffel, Tissot, Padini Concept Store and many others. Offering more than 60 Food and Beverage outlets including local delights which are popular among tourists such as Dolly Dim Sum, Sepiring, Onde-Onde, Narenj and a food precinct called, ‘Selera Street’, that promotes locals favourites, namely Lorong Seratus Tahun, TeoChew Cendol, Ah Cheng Laksa and more.
To date Sunway Putra Mall had also picked up the FIABCI 2017 Malaysia Property Award of Best Property for Retail Category, Malaysia Shopping Malls Association’s (PPK) Best Experiential Marketing Awards 2016 (gold award) for Category B (malls with 500,001 to 999,999 sq ft nett lettable area) and MPIM Asia Awards 2015 (bronze award) for best refurbished building category.