South Asian Travel Awards (SATA) has announced exclusive partners of this year’s edition.

At a ceremony held at Champa Central Hotel in Maldives capital Male Wednesday afternoon, Ooredoo Maldives signed up as the Platinum Partner. Hawks Private Limited was announced as the Gold Partner, while Male Aerated Water Company and Asia Forwarding were named Silver Partners.

Visual Beams from NERN Private Limited was made Videography Partner, with Digital Studio being announced as the Photography Partner.

MVHotels also signed up as the Travel Partner.

SATA has earlier announced the first batch of partners, including:

• Hospitality Partner for Maldives: Champa Central Hotel
• Hospitality Partner for South India: The Chancery Pavilion
• Hospitality Partner for North India: Udman Hotels and Resorts by Ferns N Petals
• Hospitality Partner for Sri Lanka: Ramada Hotel
• Hospitality Partner for Nepal: Hotel Mulberry
• Travel Media Partner: Maldives Insider and The Islandchief
• Online Media Partner: Sun Online
• TV Partner: Maldives TV
• Auditing Partner: Crowe Horwath Maldives

Meanwhile, evaluations for SATA 2017 began on Wednesday.

More than 414 nominations from the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal have been received for the 39 categories included in this year’s edition of SATA. Online voting is ongoing, and will complement the judging by a panel of experts.

This year’s edition of SATA will take place in the Maldives in October. Organisers are exploring the possibility of hosting it at the southernmost Addu atoll.

Launched last year by Maldives-based event management company Highrise, SATA has been endorsed by regional tourism authorities and organisations, including the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Colombo Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO), Confederation of Associated Tour Operators (India), Association of Travel Agents (ATA) Maldives, Association of Travel and Tour Operators India (ATTOI), Association of Professionals in Tourism (APT, India), Kerala Hotel General Managers Club (KHGMC), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Liveaboard Association of Maldives (LAM).

SATA is the first ever regional travel awards endorsed by multi national associations, providing the tourism sector of the South Asian region with recognition towards their facilities and service excellence. It aims to encourage and raise service standards in the region’s tourism industry.

The awards’ first edition, which wrapped up with a gala ceremony at the iconic Mount Lavinia Hotel in Sri Lanka, saw an overwhelming support with more than 260 nominations. Major travel media organisations, including Maldives Insider, Asian Traveller, Asian Geographic, Asian Diver and Floating Asia were appointed as media partners of SATA 2016.