YANGON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar official media Friday hailed the Sedona Hotel in Yangon for receiving prestigious Myanmar's Leading Hotel for 2009, which is one of the world travel awards.

    The award, presented at the 16th World Travel Awards ceremony in London last month, was the second consecutive one won by the Sedona hotel, one of the top foreign-invested hotels in the country.

    The New Light of Myanmar quoted General Manager of the Sedona Hotel as saying that the award not only showcased the hotel's standard of services for the international arena but also contributes to the increase of awareness of Myanmar as a destination.

    Travel professionals from 183,000 travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organizations in over 160 countries across the world cast thousands of votes in 919 different categories.

    The World Travel Awards have been presented since 1993 to acknowledge and recognize excellence in the world's travel and tourism industry.

    Meanwhile, other two hotels in Myanmar -- the Shwe Intha Hotel in Inlay and Bell Hotel in Chaungtha, also grabbed two gold medals in an energy saving building design contest for 2009, hosted by Myanmar and sponsored by the Asean Energy Center (AEC).

    The medals were presented in July this year in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw.

    Meanwhile, two more hotels -- Kandawgyi Palace Hotel from Yangon and Bayview Beach Resort in famous Ngapali Beach in Rakhine state -- also grabbed the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) Awards for the year 2008 presented by the Indochina Services Travel Group.

    The ICS awards were presented through voting system on observation of services extended to customers over two types of hotels of urban and beach.