TOURISE Awards 2025: Tokyo, New York, Ancash and Paris Take Top Honors at Inaugural TOURISE Awards
The very first winners of the TOURISE Awards have been announced, recognizing the destinations redefining exploration, hospitality, and cultural connection for the modern traveler, setting new benchmarks for innovation and excellence to deliver truly unforgettable visitor experiences.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112648089/en/
His Excellency Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism and TOURISE Chairman, celebrates with the winners of the TOURISE Awards
Taking place as part of the inaugural TOURISE Summit, held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Tokyo, Japan, emerged as the big winner, clinching the coveted title of Best Overall Destination. In addition, Tokyo was also recognized as both the Best Food & Culinary and Best Entertainment destination, affirming its status as a global capital of innovation, energy, and unforgettable experiences.
2025 Individual Category Winners
Selected by an independent cross-sector jury and chosen from an extensive slate of nominations submitted by travelers, industry leaders, and organizations worldwide, this year’s winners exemplify soul stirring culture, boundary pushing experiences, and meaningful, lasting memories. The winners represent destinations that have elevated culture and the arts into immersive experiences, took adventure to new levels, transformed local produce into world‑class culinary ecosystems, redefined retail as creative placemaking, and animated cityscapes with boundary‑breaking entertainment.
The category winners for this year are:
- Best Arts & Culture Destination: New York, USA - An urban metropolis where marquee museums and world stages meet off-Broadway neighborhood soul and you can find your scene on any corner.
- Best Adventure Destination: Ancash, Peru - The iconic site of adventures which anchors classic Andean bucket-list adventure amid the Cordillera Blanca’s turquoise lakes, high-altitude trails, and dramatic summits.
- Best Food & Culinary Destination: Tokyo, Japan - A world-renowned capital that marries unrivaled culinary depth, from humble counters to multi-course kaiseki innovation.
- Best Shopping Destination: Paris, France - The elite “City of Lights” and global capital of couture, fusing living heritage with a contemporary edge while reimagining shopping as cultural discovery through ateliers, concept stores, and revitalized districts.
- Best Entertainment Destination: Tokyo, Japan - From globally recognized theme parks and immersive indoor attractions to a forward-looking music and cultural scene, Tokyo truly has something for everyone.
“Tonight’s winners are not just places on a map, they are living, breathing inspirations that unite cultures and spark imaginations,” His Excellency Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism and Chairman of the Board of TOURISE, said. His Excellency continued, “TOURISE is shaping the next 50 years of travel, and these destinations define what purposeful and transformative tourism can achieve. Each reflects what today’s traveler increasingly seeks; authenticity, creativity, and experiences that connect people to place and purpose. We take inspiration from their vision and ambition, as together we shape a tourism future that inspires progress, strengthens communities, and brings the world closer together.”
A Night to Remember
The prestigious awards were presented at a dazzling gala dinner at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton, with a culinary journey curated by chef Nawal Alkhalawi and a show-stopping live performance by international vocal sensation Loren Allred who captivated the room in a stunning gown by Saudi fashion designer Mashael Al Faris, paired with exquisite jewelry from APOA (A Piece of Art) - a Saudi brand born in Riyadh. The night embodied the spirit of global hospitality and cultural exchange that sits at the heart of the TOURISE vision. With a focus on storytelling through the language of food, the menu paid tribute to Saudi Arabia’s diverse regional cuisines, thoughtfully infused with global influences to surprise and delight guests.
Judged by Global Icons
The Awards’ independent, cross-sector jury panel included former leaders of Forbes Travel Guide, Michelin Guides, Tate Modern, Condé Nast, the British Fashion Council, and more, bringing together unrivaled expertise from across the worlds of travel, fashion, food, and entertainment.
The panel included:
- Filip Boyen, Former CEO, Forbes Travel Guide
- Michael Ellis, Former Global Director, Michelin Guides
- Fiona Jeffery, Former Chair, World Travel Market; Former Chair, Tourism for Tomorrow Awards
- Renaud de Lesquen, Former CEO, Givenchy; Former President, Dior AM
- Lars Nittve, Former Founding Director, Tate Modern
- Albert Read, Former Managing Director, Condé Nast
- Caroline Rush, Former CEO, British Fashion Council
- Omar Samra, UN Goodwill Ambassador, Mountaineer and Polar Explorer
- Bernold Schroeder, Former CEO, Kempinski; Pan Pacific
With the 2025 TOURISE Awards winners now announced, a new benchmark has been set across culture, cuisine, adventure, and entertainment. As the journey continues, TOURISE is committed to uncovering and celebrating destinations that surprise and delight a new generation of travelers, destinations that spark curiosity, forge connections, and create unforgettable memories. Together with our global community, we look forward to the next chapter and the next remarkable destinations to shine.
About the TOURISE Awards
The TOURISE Awards are a global celebration of destination excellence, recognizing places that deliver travel experiences that are purposeful, unforgettable, and aligned with the evolving expectations of today’s travelers.
Judged by a prestigious cross-sector jury, the Awards honor destinations across five categories - Arts & Culture, Adventure, Food & Culinary, Shopping, and Entertainment - culminating in the flagship Best Overall Destination award. The Awards spotlight innovation, sustainability, cultural preservation, and visitor impact, setting a new global standard for what makes a destination truly exceptional.
Find out more about the TOURISE Awards at https://www.tourise.com/en/awards
About TOURISE
TOURISE is the world’s premier platform shaping a new horizon for global tourism.
Under the umbrella of the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, powered by the Saudi Tourism Authority, the inaugural TOURISE Summit will take place November 11–13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The event will convene visionaries from government, business, investment, tourism, and technology to drive transformative deals and deliver high-impact initiatives that redefine the future of the global tourism industry.
TOURISE ensures worldwide participation while offering access to decision-makers shaping the industry’s evolution. Following the Summit, TOURISE will continue as a year-round platform where bold ideas turn into real-world solutions.
This is where the next 50 years of tourism are shaped. Together, we are unstoppable.
For more information visit www.tourise.com
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112648089/en/
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
NetApp Recognized as Winner of 2025 Microsoft Americas Partner of the Year for SDC Canada Category12.11.2025 21:00:00 CET | Press release
NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, today announced it has won the 2025 Americas Partner of the Year Software Development Company (SDC) Canada Award. The company received recognition among a group of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating innovation and successfully delivering customer solutions using Microsoft technologies. “We believe that being honored by Microsoft as the 2025 Americas Partner of the Year for the SDC Canada category is a powerful validation of our unmatched innovation and impact for customers across industries,” said Pravjit Tiwana, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Storage and Services at NetApp. “We are the only storage company natively embedded in Microsoft Azure as a first-party service—a distinction that underscores the depth of our collaboration. Together we’re not only helping customers modernize their workloads at scale—we're architecting the foundation for the AI era.” The Microsoft Americas Partner of the Y
Brenus Pharma Expands Its Global Scientific Advisory Board With Us Immuno-Oncology Expert Prof. Olivera J. Finn12.11.2025 19:00:00 CET | Press release
Brenus Pharma, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class in vivo immunotherapies for solid tumors, announced the appointment of Olivera J. Finn, Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). This strategic addition strengthens Brenus’ international SAB as the company advances its proprietary Stimulated Ghost Cell (SGC) platform and lead candidate STC-1010 toward its next clinical milestones. Globally recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to cancer immunology, Prof. Finn has led major discoveries in tumor antigens. She identified the MUC1 tumor antigen, a cornerstone in cancer research, and discovered cyclin B1 as a promising target for anti-cancer immunotherapy. Over her career, she has authored more than 220 peer-reviewed publications and co-led extensive clinical trials across pancreatic, colon, breast, prostate, and lung cancers. She also served as President of the American Associa
Telcoin Makes U.S. Banking History with Approval to Launch the First Regulated Digital Asset Bank12.11.2025 19:00:00 CET | Press release
Charter approval allows Telcoin Digital Asset Bank to establish a bridge between traditional banking and decentralized finance, including the creation of eUSD as the nation’s first bank-issued stablecoin. Telcoin today announced its final charter approval from the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance to launch Telcoin Digital Asset Bank, the first Digital Asset Depository Institution in the United States. The charter positions Telcoin to become the first true blockchain bank, directly connecting U.S. bank accounts to regulated “Digital Cash” stablecoins. Its flagship product, eUSD, will be the first bank-issued, on-chain U.S. dollar stablecoin, offering consumers and businesses a secure, compliant way to use Digital Cash for payments, remittances, and savings. Notably, it is also the first bank charter to explicitly authorize connecting U.S. consumers to DeFi. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112119122
Mindbreeze Named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide General-Purpose Knowledge Discovery Software 2025 Vendor Assessment12.11.2025 18:01:00 CET | Press release
Mindbreeze, a leading global provider of AI-based knowledge management solutions, has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide General-Purpose Knowledge Discovery Software 2025 Vendor Assessment (doc #US53011225, November 2025). In the IDC MarketScape 14 vendors of knowledge discovery software were evaluated. For the assessment, IDC divided potential key measures for success into two primary categories: capabilities and strategies. Get your complimentary copy of the excerpt here. The IDC MarketScape notes, “Companies looking for reliable, context-aware insights from internal and external sources should consider Mindbreeze. The platform enables decision making for compliance, risk management, and strategic planning, appealing to business areas such as customer service, finance, legal, and HR. It can tailor pre-built search applications to specific departments for search while supporting broader knowledge management and digital workspace initiatives.” "We are proud to be rec
Ardian Set to Mobilize Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) With European Investment Bank (EIB), Proparco and British International Investment (BII) for a €100m Commitment for Its Nature-Based Solutions Strategy12.11.2025 17:12:00 CET | Press release
Ardian’s Nature-Based Solutions strategy is dedicated to investing in projects in reforestation, wetlands and mangrove restoration intended to protect biodiversity. The strategy aims at providing carbon credit to corporates in their decarbonisation strategy. It will enable the sequestration of 85 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere over a 40 year’ period. European Investment Bank commits €50m and Proparco €20m and British International Investment intend to commit €10m, reflecting increasing DFIs appetite in the sector. Ardian, a world-leading private investment firm, today announces that it has secured commitment from several Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Proparco. British International Investment (BII) have signaled their intention to provide commitment to the Nature Based Solutions fund. Total fund commitments will stand for a total of c. €100m by year end to Ardian’s Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) strategy. As anchor investors,
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom