SkiStar Trysil: Two golds to Trysil at World Ski Awards

Saturday night, at the World Ski Awards in Austrian Kitzbühel, Trysil claimed the title as Norway’s best ski resort while Radisson Blu Resort Trysil won the title best ski hotel. The award ceremony took place at the fashionable five-star hotel A-Rosa in the Austrian ski metropolis.

Head of destination Skistar Trysil, Helge Bonden, received the award for the best Norwegian ski destination. The winners’ votes were cast by selected international travel journalists, industry professionals and ski tourists from all over the world. Trysil is Norway’s biggest and most popular ski resort, and Bonden was obviously proud of the award.

– This award is a token that we have done many things right in the development of the destination Trysil. We work every day to ensure that our guests have great skiing experiences and an award like this is like a good encouraging pat on the back and not least, great motivation to further improve experiences in the years to come, comments Bonden.

World Ski Awards also awards the best ski hotels, adding another gold award for Trysil. Radisson Blu Resort Trysil won the title in the class best ski hotel in Norway. Hotel Manager Pontus Åkesson, who received the award, was just like Bonden delighted at the award.

- The hotel is this year celebrating five years and to receive an award like this is probably the best present we could get. We are now looking forward to the coming winter and this award gives us a great start to what we are certain will be a good season. It was especially nice that also Park Inn Trysil Mountain Resort was among the nominees, says Åkesson.

Last Saturday night in Kitzbühel was quite a success for Skistar. Besides Trysil, Åre was voted the best Swedish ski destination, while Hemsedal, Sälen and Vemdalen were nominees. Managing director, Sion Rapson, of World Ski Awards, enjoyed the event and was strongly impressed by Skistar’s strength.

– SkiStar brings home 10 per cent of the awards, indeed a double winner, stated Sion Rapson.

World Ski Awards is part of World Travel Awards, currently celebrating its 20th anniversary. The award ceremony in Kitzbühel gathered representatives of the world’s leading ski destinations in 20 countries, and is often referred to as "the Oscars of the travel industry". The award at the elegant A-Rosa hotel ceremony was quite a glamorous event. Trysil ‘s representatives received trophies, praise and applause from the near 200 delegates from all parts of the world.

– From Trysil’s perspective this was truly a great evening. We cement our position as the leading ski destination in Norway and it’s also a testament that the work we do is also noted internationally, concludes Bonden.

About World Ski Awards:
World Ski Awards serves to celebrate and reward excellence in ski tourism.

Ski tourism constitutes a vital segment in the global travel and tourism marketplace. An estimated 400 million skier visits will take place in 2013 to the 2,000 ski resorts which are home to over 6 million hotel beds. Of the 80 countries offering open air ski areas, the inaugural World Ski Awards will focus on the leading 20 nations who are shaping the future of this dynamic industry. Whilst celebrating and rewarding excellence across ski resorts and the ski hospitality sector, World Ski Awards will strive to ultimately raise the ski tourist customer experience and stimulate both the domestic and international ski tourism market.

The worldwide voting process begins at 08:00 (BST) on Monday 26th August. Votes will be made by professionals working within the ski travel and tourism industry – senior executives, travel buyers, tour operators, agents and media professionals. Votes can also be cast by the public (ski tourism consumers). The voting works on a first-past-the-post system to ensure impartiality and independence. Votes are submitted online at World Ski Awards website. The winners of each national category will go head-to-head with the winners of the other countries before the unveiling of the World Winners.

World Ski Awards is part of World Travel Awards, currently celebrating its 20th anniversary as "the Oscars of the travel industry". Global Media Partners include leading brands such as TV5Monde, International Herald Tribune, National Geographic Traveller, Newsweek and CNBC. This Global Media Partner network has a monthly readership of 1.7 million and TV audiences reach of 90 million. http://www.worldskiawards.com/

More information:
Helge Bonden, Head of destination Skistar Trysil
+47 99280005

Pontus Åkesson, Hotel Manager Radisson Blu Resort Trysil
+47 99280009