Pacific Resort Aitutaki Win’s More ‘Oscars’
LONDON: Pacific Resort Aitutaki, Cook Islands has been voted the ‘World’s Leading Boutique Island Resort”, for the
second year running at the World Travel Awards 2009 grand finals held in London on Sunday.
The success came hot on the heels of the two Asia Pacific awards won by the Pacific Resort Aitutaki at the event’s
regional finals the night before.
Pacific Resort Aitutaki scooped the ‘World’s Leading Boutique Island Resort’ title for the second year running, beating
6 other island resorts, ranging from the likes of Havafen Fushi in the Maldives to Bedarra Great Barrier Reef in
Australia. The night before Pacific Resort Aitutaki was also named ‘Australasia’s Leading Boutique Resort’ and ‘Cook
Islands Leading Resort’ for the third consecutive year.
Aitutaki’s Pacific Resort, described by the awards organisers as “a secluded ultra-luxury Pacific hideaway in the Cook
Islands”, has placed the Cook Islands and Australasia on centre stage at what has been described by the Wall Street
Journal as the “Oscars of the Travel Industry”.
Pacific Resort chief executive officer Greg Stanaway says this award is considered to be a significant achievement for
Pacific Resort Aitutaki, for the island of Aitutaki and for the Cook Islands.
“Quite simply it is the ultimate accolade we can expect to achieve, an award that is great for our business and for the
Cook Islands in total”, says Stanaway. “Our guests have become more sophisticated and more widely travelled than ever
before, they have also become more demanding and discerning, with higher expectations”.
Voting for the World travel Awards 2009, came from over 170,000 travel professionals worldwide, who in their assessments
were looking for “the key factors that transform a well-run company into an excellent one” said the awards president
Graham Cooke, who also explained that “Winners are judged on their ability, to understand visitor needs and
expectations; maximise business performance; value personnel; undertake enterprising product expansion and development;
foster innovation and creativity as well as work together as a team externally and internally”.
Stanaway was quick to share the accolades with all involved saying that “we are seeing the results of a total team
effort, the success of Pacific Resort Aitutaki owes much to all of the people involved in the experience that is a visit
to the Cook Islands, it is our team and the people of the Cook Islands who underpin the success of Pacific Resort
Aitutaki”.
Log on to www.worldtravelawards.com for a full list of winners.
ENDS