Rajasthan, the celebrated land of Rajputana has added three more feathers to its golden cap. Rajasthan picked up three trophies in the categories of best cultural, heritage, and honeymoon destination at the 1st edition of “India’s Best Awards 2011” announced by the World’s leading travel magazine TRAVEL + LEISURE India and South Asia at Kamal Mahal, ITC Maurya, New Delhi on last Friday.

The winners at the award ceremony were chosen through a reader’s and online poll conducted in 2011.

Commenting on the first edition of India’s Best Awards 2011, Mrs. Payal Kohli, Editor-in-Chief, of Travel + Leisure India & South Asia said “Travel + Leisure India & South Asia was the first international title to launch in the Indian subcontinent in September 2006.

We felt that the time was right to conduct our first readers poll awards as over 500,000 readers have been reading our magazine for over five years and we were sure that the results would be very authentic and credible”.

Rajasthan emerged as the favorite by winning the highest number of awards at India’s Best Awards 2011. The award ceremony was graced by distinguished personalities such as Tourism Minister R.K. Khwaja, Fashion Designer Rohit Bal, Film Producer Aarti Surendranath, and many others.

“We are very excited to award the winners in our inaugural Awards ceremony today in the presence of so many important dignitaries, members of the travel fraternity, and also with Nancy Novgorod, Editor-in-Chief, Travel + Leisure, who was also here in Delhi when we launched the magazine over five years ago and has been a mentor for us through the years,” said Payal Kohli.

Other winners in various categories include Mumbai as the top party destination in India, Odisha as the best-emerging destination in India, and Delhi as the best food destination in India.

There is good news for the hospitality industry as well because ITC Maurya was adjudged a favorite among women travelers.