The World Travel Awards hosted their Africa and Indian Ocean gala ceremony on Sugar Beach Resort in Mauritius.

Axar.az reports citing Euronews.

This event is one of many regional galas throughout the year - others include North America and the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia and Oceania, Middle East, and Europe. The winners of these ceremonies then compete in the world categories at the World Travel Awards Grand Final in November.

At the night of the gala in Mauritius, hundreds of travel and tourism representatives from across the region gathered to celebrate the best of their industry.

Categories included Mauritius' Leading Beach Resort 2019. The winner was none other than the hosts of the ceremony - Sugar Beach Resort.

Africa's Leading City Destination was won by Durban, South Africa.

The Indian Ocean's Leading Beach Destination went to the Maldives.

Mauritius won the Indian Ocean's Leading Adventure Tourism destination, among a few others.

Euronews spoke to Graham Cooke, the founder of the awards who said the ceremonies help showcase the best of the business:

“Acknowledging - in this very crowded world – excellence, talent, new ideas, creativity, is very important.

And I think in most cases, it's been proved that it can increase business, competitiveness… and obviously do a lot for the island.”

Indian Ocean's Leading Beach Destination 2019:Maldives

Winners profile: https://t.co/HtJanEqLwk

WorldTravelAwards #Winner #Maldives pic.twitter.com/TtcTAnrZuw

— World Travel Awards (@WTravelAwards) June 3, 2019