This year’s edition featured a revamp with the addition of 10 new titles in the Airline, Service Residences and Travel Services category to debut awards like Best Inflight Service, Best Serviced Residence Operator (Property Level) and Best Luxury Cruise Operator. Of which, two awards were returning titles – Best Car Rental Company and Best Tour Operator.
20 recipients across various categories took home the Hermes trophy, a signature hallmark of the awards, for the first time tonight. These new winners include Avis Budget Group (Best Car Rental Company), Conrad Manila (Best City Hotel – Manila), Dream Cruises (Best Cruise Operator), Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) (Best Convention & Exhibition Bureau), Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore (Best Serviced Residence Operator (Property Level)) and Wildlife Reserves Singapore (Best Theme Attraction Operator). Previously dominated by industry veterans, the Best Business Hotel and Best Online Travel Agency titles were by claimed Sofitel Singapore City Centre and Ctrip respectively.
Another 20 organizations are a testimony to the travel industry’s ongoing pursuit of raising benchmarks by making their comeback into this year’s awards. W Taipei and Rajah Travel Corporation reclaimed their respective Best City Hotel – Taipei and Best Travel Agency – The Philippines titles after being beaten last year. The 2018 awards also welcomed past recipients Cox & Kings Ltd (Best Travel Agency – India), Emirates (Best Airline Connectivity), EXO Travel (Most Sustainable Travel Company), One Farrer Hotel (Best Independent Hotel) and Pan Pacific Hotels Group (Best Regional Hotel Chain).
Veteran organisations such as Resorts World Sentosa (Best Integrated Resort), Harbour Plaza Hotels & Resorts (Best Local Hotel Chain), Phoenix Tours International, Inc. (Best Travel Agency – Chinese Taipei) and Mandarin Orchard Singapore (Best City Hotel – Singapore) continue to lead in their field with consecutive wins of their titles, demonstrating that it’s not impossible to consistently remain best in class.
As the only non-voting category of the awards, Outstanding Achievement Award recipients are selected by TTG’s editorial team for their impressive contributions to the industry. This year’s winners include RobinYap, Chairman Emeritus of The Travel Corporation, Thailand, Klook, Switzerland Tourism, and EXO Travel as Travel Personality of the Year, Destination of the Year, Travel Entrepreneur of the Year, Best Travel Marketing Effort and Most Sustainable Travel Company respectively.
The TTG Travel Hall of Fame, a prestige bestowed only upon exceptional organizations who have achieved the feat of staying the best in their class for 10 consecutive years, saw two new inductees at this year’s awards. Royal Plaza on Scotts (Best Independent Hotel) and Royal Caribbean International (Best Cruise Operator) joins the ranks of 15 other honoraries who have been inducted from 2002 to 2016.
The 29th Annual TTG Travel Awards 2018 Ceremony and Gala Dinner was held in Centara Grand at CentralWorld, the official venue sponsor for the event. This annual event coincides with Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia (IT&CMA) and Corporate Travel World (CTW) Asia-Pacific – Asia-Pacific’sOnly Doublebill Event in MICE and Corporate Travel.
Voting for the 2019 awards will commence in mid-April 2019.
