September 25, 2018 TnH Global 1

Cinnamon TBC Asia to bring the world’s best bloggers to Sri Lanka

10 award categories announced for this year’s edition

Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts’ signature conference for online influencers and travel professionals, TBC Asia will be awarding 30 of the best bloggers in the world, under 10 unique categories at this year’s event. The winners of each category will be announced at an exclusive awards ceremony that will take place on the 31^st of October at Cinnamon Grand Colombo. Designed to showcase and reward the most dynamic and effective travel and lifestyle bloggers in their respective fields, TBC Asia is a one-of-a-kind event that fuses an engaging day-long thought leadership forum with an awards programme for online movers and shakers.

The conference provides a bridge between travel brands and online influencers, giving them the chance to work together to achieve growth and their respective goals. At this year’s event, a one-to-one speed networking session will be held, giving bloggers and brand representatives the chance to connect and collaborate.

Launched in 2014, Cinnamon TBC Asia has gained momentum and worldwide fame over the years, and following the introduction of an awards component in 2016, it has continued to make headlines and create immense hype in the travel industry at large. A total of 700 bloggers applied for the awards programme this year. After a rigorous judging process facilitated by an esteemed panel of judges, a handful of high quality applicants were shortlisted.

Winners will receive gold, silver and bronze awards under each of the 10 categories. This year’s categories include ‘Best Travel Blog of the Year’, ‘Best Up-and-Coming Travel Blogger’, ‘Best Writing on a Blog’, ‘Best Travel Photography Blog’ and ‘Best Travel Video Blog’. Other categories for this year’s event include ‘Best Food Blog’, ‘Best Luxury Travel Blog’, ‘Best Airline Blog’, ‘Best Optimization of Social Media’ and ‘Best Responsible Tourism Award’. Cinnamon TBC Asia’s awards programme has propelled the careers of many winning bloggers to new heights. Shining a light on up-and-coming talent, whilst reinforcing the capabilities and impact of industry veterans, the awards have served as a stepping stone, paving the way for many winners to receive worldwide attention and recognition. Several of the bloggers who have won awards at the show, have gone on to be featured on lists developed by Forbes and other top publications.

Commenting on the awards, Dileep Mudadeniya, Head of Brand Marketing & CEO for the Cinnamon Life Mall, said, “Cinnamon TBC Asia is the only travel and digital marketing event of its kind in the region, that has a dedicated awards programme for top online influencers. The awards programme recognizes a diverse array of bloggers, who are impacting the industry and fueling its growth. The awards are an important aspect of TBC Asia, and we are proud to once again bring the very best content creators from around the world to Sri Lanka for this event. Cinnamon TBC Asia continues to gain international acclaim and is yet another Cinnamon event that has put Sri Lanka on the global travel and marketing map.”

This year, Cinnamon TBC Asia will run under the theme ‘Creating Transformational Digital Content for Travel’ and will highlight ground-breaking trends and insights by expert speakers and industry practitioners from around the world, who are transforming the global travel industry. With over 70 travel influencers and digital marketing experts participating in the forum, the conference is set to deliver useful tips, knowledge and strategic input that will help travel brands to navigate the eb and flow of an ever-evolving industry. The awards programme is a highly anticipated component of Cinnamon TBC Asia, and the diverse categories represent the many specializations and unique styles that the programme covers.

“We have had the opportunity to partner with Cinnamon on a variety of innovative, and mutually beneficial activities, and TBC Asia 2018 is one such event which takes Sri Lanka to the world. Such destination promotion activities coincide with our common objective of promoting Sri Lanka and contribute towards enhancing the destination’s profile globally” said, Dimuthu Tennakoon, Head of Worldwide Sales and Distribution, Sri Lankan Airlines.