It was a celebratory affair when Sunway Putra Mall was named the gold award winner in the third edition of the Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards 2017 gala dinner and award presentation ceremony at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur.
The win saw the refurbished two-year old mall emerging as one of the only two winners in the shopping mall category after edging out competition from Suria KLCC, Starhill Gallery, Berjaya Times Square and Low Yat Plaza. It was the mall’s first attempt for the award
Minister of Tourism and Culture, Dato’ Seri Nazri bin Abdul Aziz presented the award to Sunway Putra Mall General Manager Ms Phang Sau Lian alongside with the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Seri Hj Mhd Amin Nordin bin Abd Aziz in front of a-650 strong audience from the city’s various tourism industry players and related government agencies.
The Mayor had earlier emphasised that the tourism industry’s contribution to the socio-economic growth and development of Kuala Lumpur was important as it generated revenue and employment opportunities. These awards were recognition towards tourism industry players for boosting the city’s image.
“The gold award is meaningful to Sunway Putra Mall that despite being only two years in operation after the refurbishment, we are being recognized by the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur as the top two malls in promoting Kuala Lumpur. It is a big honour for Sunway,” said Phang.
The Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards is a tri-annual programme which was first held in 2011. In its third edition, this year’s awards saw over 500 entries being received. Qualified entries went through a stringent selection by a panel of independent judges and public voting. The criteria for judging were based on the vision outlined in the Kuala Lumpur Tourism Master Plan 2015-2025.
Phang attributed the win to Sunway’s high service standard and top management visionary leadership which placed emphasis on delivering beyond. “It’s always been the intentions of our Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Jeffrey Cheah, CEO HC Chan and COO Kevin Tan that for any Sunway projects, emphasis is given to progress not solely on profit but people and planet too. Hence, the relentless focus on going beyond,” she added.
The winning of this award added another feather to the cap for the mall tourism offering excellence. Sunway Putra Mall had already been 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 the hiring of well-trained ex-flight attendants as frontline staff, DBKL appointment of the mall’s customer service staff as DBKL brand ambassador to promote heritage walks in Kuala Lumpur, promoting at overseas tourism 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.
Apart from the above, to date Sunway Putra Mall had also picked up the MPIM Asia Awards 2015 (bronze award) for best refurbished building category and 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).
The former award paid tribute to excellence and innovation in retail development in Asia Pacific region while the latter award recognized the best of marketing programmes that enhance shoppers’ shopping experience.