On the last day of the May 2008 İstanbul Tourism Fest, organized for the first time, the winners of 1st Annual İstanbul Tourism Awards were announced in a ceremony held in Aya Irini, in Turkey. 

With the participation of the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Ertuğrul Günay, the Special Award was given to Ara Güler, the Honour Award to Başaran Ulusoy. the Creative Project Award for ‘Akaretler Project’ of Serdar Bilgili, the Activities Award to Kasım Zoto for ‘Hıdrellez Feasts’ and to Faruk Pekin (FEST Travel) for ‘Strolling Through İstanbul’ excursions.

Faruk Pekin , the General Manager of FEST Travel, an agency that has adopted cultural tourism as a sustainable project for twenty years , is well known for organizing daily cultural İstanbul strolls to the townsfolk, for creating 90 different itineraries in Istanbul for them and foreign travelers likewise, and for insisting on increasing the number of publications about İstanbul. During the ceremony Faruk Pekin said: “The award I received belongs to Istanbul, in fact. I thank “Tarih ve Toplum” periodical which does not exist now, a periodical we once planned and started the “Strolling Through İstanbul” excursions together. I’m also thankful to the guides and to the lecturers for guiding almost 40  thousands İstanbul dwellers during these excursions, and last but not the least, I thank the FEST Travel agency work group who have managed the organize flawless tours all these years. The real award belongs to them. I’m just a mediator who developed the concept.”

The bronze tourism awards designed by sculptor Ziyaeddin Nuriev, symbolize “the man strolling through the city”.