All Eyes On The 82 Extraordinaries At The 24th Annual TTG Travel Awards 2013

82 extraordinary organisations and individuals are taking home the 24K gold-plated signature Hermes trophy at this year’s TTG Travel Awards – an annual regional event organised by TTG Asia Media’s Travel Trade Publishing group.

A new record of 120,000 valid votes was garnered during a 2 month period (from end May to early August) from print and online subscribers of the group’s six titles: TTG Asia, TTG China, TTG India, TTGmice, TTG-BTmice China and TTG Asia Luxury. Readers of the relevant industry sectors cast their votes of confidence for the 68 winning travel supplier and travel agency organisations who had won their affirmation with exceptional services and products.

This year, the awards saw 28 recipients successfully claim their titles of industry’s best from last year’s winners. Among them include airline carriers Air Canada and Finnair, several individual hotel/resort properties in Bali, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Maldives, Manila, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo, namely Maya Ubud Resort & Spa, Bali, Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, Holiday Inn Express Hong Kong Causeway Bay, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, Dusit Thani Maldives, Fairmont Makati, Conrad Seoul, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, The Quincy Hotel By Far East Hospitality, Mandarin Orchard Singapore, and Four Seasons Tokyo at Marunouchi for their respective awards. The Best Serviced Residence Operator, Best Airport and Best NTO also saw new winners in Frasers Hospitality Pte Ltd, Incheon International Airport and Korea Tourism Organization. In addition, 10 of the 16 travel agency award winners also went to different organisations.

“This year, we have witnessed several change in leads in many key Asia-Pacific markets across both Supplier and Agency awards. This reflects the intense competition in these markets, and the discerning expectations of the trade in return. Most notably, for non market-based awards such as Best Luxury Hotel, Best Budget Hotel, Best Serviced Residence Operator, Best Airport and Best NTO, organisations in Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea have come out tops, evidencing the high standards of service these organisations have demonstrated to win the industry over. Their accomplishment of making it to this year’s winners list is no simple feat,” said Mr Darren Ng, Managing Director of TTG Asia Media.

Amid the strong competition, Thai organisations have also stood out in the marketplace for holding their reign on strongly contested titles such as Best Meetings & Conventions Hotel (Centara Grand at CentralWorld), Best Convention & Exhibition Bureau (Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau), Best Airline – Business Class and Best South-East Asian Airline (Thai Airways International), and Best Business Hotel (Grand Hyatt Erawan). Furthermore, all 4 awards in the non-voting Outstanding Achievement Awards category went to winners with associations with Thailand. TTG Travel Trade Publishing’s editorial team handpicked new winners Mr. Martin J. Craigs, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) based in Thailand and Mr. Chanin Donavanik, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Thailand-grown Dusit International, as their Travel Personality of the Year and Travel Entrepreneur of the Year respectively. The country Thailand continues to be their choice for Destination of the Year, while Best Western International’s regional HQ in Thailand picked up the title for Best Marketing & Relationship Effort.

The Travel Hall of Fame also welcomed 2 more additions – Hong Kong International Airport and Raffles Hotel Singapore – to the ranks of travel trade’s best of the best, rounding the count of Travel Hall of Fame honoraries to a perfect 10. These 2 organisations have been inducted this year for their impressive achievement of winning the same award over the last 10 consecutive years.

This year, TTG Travel Awards also launched its first-ever fund raising initiative with several Travel Hall of Fame honoraries generously sponsoring items towards this cause. All profits from the auction went to PATA Foundation to support tourism development and sustainability efforts for the travel and tourism community.

The 24thAnnual TTG Travel Awards 2013 Ceremony and Gala Dinner is held annually in Bangkok, in conjunction with Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia (IT&CMA) and Corporate Travel World (CTW) Asia-Pacific – The World’s Only Doublebill Event in MICE and Corporate Travel.

More information on the TTG Travel Awards can be found at: www.ttgasia.com/ttg-awards

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About the TTG Travel Awards

The TTG Travel Awards has been recognising the best of Asia-Pacific’s travel industry since 1989. This prestigious annual event honours stellar organisations and individuals in 4 categories: Travel Supplier, Travel Agency, Outstanding Achievement and Travel Hall of Fame. This TTG Travel Trade Publishing event is proudly organised by TTG Asia, with the support of TTG India, TTG China, TTGmice, TTG-BTmice China and TTG Asia Luxury.