Deloitte LLP confirmed and audited the votes under a new fairer regulation system to determine this year's BTA winners
LONDON- British Travel Awards, which is seen as one of the best public opinion indicators in the travel industry, took place on Thursday 1st November at Battersea Evolution in London, followed by a Gala Dinner.
New rules implemented for the first time this year included a restriction for travel companies to enter a maximum of five awards, giving large tour operators food for thought. Another innovation was the categorization of tour operator awards according to size, featuring awards for Large, Medium and Small tour operators.
Thomas Cook was voted as the public’s favorite travel company in five separate categories, besting First Choice and Virgin Holidays that picked up three awards. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were voted Best Airlines for Short Haul and Long Haul respectively. However Cornwall was the one to steal the show, winning four awards – Best UK Holiday County or Region, with Cornish town St Ives winning Best UK Coastal Town, Visit Cornwall winning Best UK Visitor Guide / Website and the county’s Eden Project winning Best UK Leisure Attraction. At the other end of the country Edinburgh Castle won Best UK Heritage Attraction.
BTA chief executive Lorraine Barnes Burton said: “The British Travel Awards are the benchmark for excellence when it comes to finding out who really is the best in the business of travel for the UK consumer. Topping one million votes was an important milestone for us. Our consumer voters come from a wide demographic, with voting promoted through our media partners including the Sun, the Times, The Sunday Times, the Sunday Sun and LBC.
“This year we introduced a fairer system for the tour operator awards so the large companies didn’t walk away with everything and the smaller companies got a look in and this has worked very well. We were very impressed by the eagerness of the smaller independent companies to put themselves forward, now they have a fair chance of winning and for conducting tireless lobbying campaigns amongst their happy customers. All winners are to be congratulated on their achievement. ”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
