A total of 14 categories are up grabs in the 4th Philippine Sports Tourism Awards to be held at the Clark Marriott Hotel on Dec. 10.

The event aims to recognize exemplary sports initiatives from the public and private sectors who have shown interest and deep conviction in promoting sports tourism in the country during 2019.

Following its resolve to honor and highlight the movers and shakers of the sports tourism industry in the Philippines during these tumultuous times, the event will be organized by Cebu-based public relations agency Selrahco PR.

The following awards will be given this year: Sports Tourism Destination of the Year, Sports Tourism Organizer of the Year (private and government), Sports Tourism Event of the Year (domestic and international), Sports Tourism Sport Association of the Year, Sports Tourism Destination Marketing of the Year, Sports Tourism Hotel of the Year, Sports Tourism Event Sponsorship of the Year, Sports Tourism Charity Event of the Year, Sports Tourism Airline of the Year, Adventure Event of the Year, Sports Venue of the Year, and Sports Media Coverage of the Year. In addition, two special categories will also be awarded to public and private personalities in the realm of sports tourism.

The Philippine Sports Tourism Awards also recently created the Sports Turismo Alliance, an official member of the International Associations of Event Hosts, to build a community of movers and shakers of Philippine sports tourism consisting all winners of previous sports tourism awards including Sunrise Events Inc., Dumaguete City, Philippine Airlines, Province of Cebu, Davao City, Cebu Pacific and Resorts World Manila, to name a few.

This year’s event will follow stringent social distancing and health and safety protocols for the physical event. The organizers have committed to limit guest capacity to ensure safety and security during the ceremony as it keeps the fire of sportsmanship in the country burning.

PSTA founder and chairman Charles Lim shared this year has posed a great challenge for the sports and tourism sector in the country and what we need now more than anything is grit and gratitude.

“We are all excited and gearing up to award the most inspiring individuals and organizations of 2019. It was a bumper year for Philippine sports and tourism,” Lim explained, “and we would not want to let it go unheralded.”IMT