The Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards came to a resounding finale with the Award Presentation and Gala Dinner Event held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Organized by the Kuala Lumpur Tourism Bureau under Kuala Lumpur City Hall, this year’s event was the third edition of the tri-annual industry awards programme. The previous editions were organized in 2011 and 2014. Around 650 guests that included Kuala Lumpur tourism industry players, related government agencies and members of the media attended the event. The guest of honour for the evening was the Minister of Tourism & Culture, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Bin Abdul Aziz.
The main objectives of the Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards programme is to identify, recognize and reward the establishments and individuals who have strived to achieve the highest levels of excellence in their service delivery. The programme also seeks to benchmark the highest industry standards in an effort to encourage more industry players to improve their own service culture.
Since the inaugural Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards was held in 2011, this tri-annual programme has grown in stature and is eagerly anticipated by many in the industry. Over the years, more and more players have come to recognize the awards and what they represent.
While over 500 nominations were received for the 14 categories and sub- categories, only 449 were qualified for the first round of judging where nominee’s submissions were scrutinised and shortlisted for the final round. For the final rounds of judging, the panels of judges conducted site visits and even sampled the products and services first hand. Continuing with the system of voting from the previous editions of the programme, the judges scores made up 95% of the total marks awarded to each nominee, while public voting made up the remaining 5% of the marks. Members of the public were invited to vote for their favourite establishment by logging onto the official awards programme website and registering.
The online voting system allocated between 1 and 5 points to each nominee within a category. These points were based upon the percentage of votes each nominee received from the total number of voters. Nominees that received 25% or more of the total number of voters got the maximum 5 points. Nominees that received between 20% - 24% of the votes were given 4 points, between 15% and 19% got 3 points, between 10% and 14% got 2 points and those that got below 9% got 1 point.
From left to right: En Anwar bin Mohd Zain, Dato' Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Tan Sri Abdul Aziz, Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping, Dato’ Ibrahim Yusoff
Not all categories however, included an online public voting component in the final judging process. The categories that had online public voting were those that had a facility that was open to tourists and members of the public to visit or experience. These categories included; 5-Star Accommodation, 4-Star Accommodation, 3-Star Accommodation, Budget Accommodation, Fine Dining Restaurant, Home Grown Restaurant, Food Court, Tourist Attractions (Family Entertainment), Tourist Attractions (Arts, Culture & Heritage), Medical Tourism, Education Tourism and Shopping Malls.
The online voting period was for just three weeks from the 16th of April to the 5th of May 2017. And in this short period the total number of online voters (based on unique registrations) for all categories was 39,901. This is a huge leap in numbers as compared to the 12,070 voters in 2014 and 4,718 voters during the inaugural programme in 2011.
The judges for each of the 14 categories and sub-categories were made up of separate panels of experienced industry veterans and experts in their fields. Each panel was led by a head judge, who was responsible for ensuring that the judging was carried out according to the set criteria. The criteria for the judging process were based upon the vision set out in the Kuala Lumpur Tourism Master Plan 2015-2015.
This year’s award recipients too were of exceptional standards, with the judging panels deciding to recognize not just the top scorers of the judging process with the top honours, but a new recognition was introduced. This year there will be a number of nominees in selected categories that will be recognized with “Certificates of Excellence”. These certificates are to recognize those establishments that have achieved high levels of excellence yet narrowly missed out on the top award by a very slim margin.
From left to right: En Anwar bin Mohd Zain, Datuk Seri Hj. Mhd Amin Nordin bin Abd Aziz, Tan Sri Datuk Yong Poh Kon, Dato' Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Tan Sri Abdul Aziz, Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping, Tan Dri Dr Ong Hong Peng, Dato’ Ibrahim Yusoff, En Khairul Anuar bin Mhd Juri and all the Award Recipients.
The sponsors for this edition of the programme were The Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Royal Selangor, The KL Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus, Arch Kuala Lumpur City Gallery, Canon Marketing (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. and Perfect Magic Network.
Award Recipient List
Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution
Tan Sri Datuk Yong Poh Kon
Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping
Accommodation Category (5-Star Hotel)
Platinum Award – Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Gold Award – Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur
Accommodation Category (4-Star Hotel)
Platinum Award – Impiana KLCC Hotel & Spa
Gold Award – Ambassador Row Hotel Suites by Lanson Place
Accommodation Category (Budget Hotel)
Platinum Award – Tai Ichi Hotel
Gold Award – Sungei Wang Hotel
Dining Category (Fine Dining Restaurant)
Platinum Award – Taka by Sushi Saito
Gold Award – Nobu Kuala Lumpur
Dining Category (Home Grown Restaurant)
Gold Award – Serai Restaurant
Gold Award – Dancing Fish
Dining Category (Food Court)
Platinum Award – Lot 10 Hutong
Gold Award – Quizinn by Rasa
Tourist Attraction Category (Family Entertainment)
Platinum Award – KL Bird Park
Gold Award – Aquaria KLCC
Tourist Attraction Category (Culture, Arts & Heritage)
Platinum Award – Royal Selangor
Gold Award – Kuala Lumpur City Gallery
Shopping Mall Category
Platinum Award – Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
Gold Award – Sunway Putra Mall
Medical Tourism Category
Platinum Award – KPJ Tawakkal Specialist Hospital & KPJ Tawakkal Health Centre
Gold Award – Institut Jantung Negara
Education Tourism Category
Platinum Award – University of Malaya
Gold Award – Berjaya University College of Hospitality
Mayor’s Commendable Award for Front Liners
Ms. Lim Hwi Shuen (The Federal Kuala Lumpur)
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