The Awards gala, organised by Northern Ireland Travel News in association with Blue Insurance, was attended by more than 430 decision makers from the travel and tourism industry in the UK and Ireland and was hosted by Alexander Armstrong, presenter of BBC 1’s Pointless quiz show, in the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa, Newcastle.
Meanwhile, after 26 years, the prestigious and much coveted Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year award has a new winner – a Downpatrick family owned and run business. After being in the final assessments conducted by anonymous callers over a number of years, Downe Travel at last landed the big one – the title of ‘Travel Agent of the Year’.
The win is a deserved accolade for the work over many years of owner Marie Gallagher, and in recent years that of son Paul who has taken over much of the day to day running of the highly respected family concern .
The coveted Travel Agent of the Year title won by Downe Travel was decided in the final analysis by mystery shoppers and cold callers after an original shortlist drawn up after votes by the travelling public.
A Bangor travel agent, Chandra Rowan of Feherty Travel, won the hotly contested Travel Consultant of the Year award, introduced for the first time in 2014.
The short-listed finalists were decided on votes of the travelling public and then had to go through a testing interview session with their travel industry peers. Chandra’s success is the second for Feherty’s in three years – Scott Parker won the award in 2015.
The full list of Awards and Winners was:
BEST TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE 2017 – Belfast Welcome Centre
NI TOURISM SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2017 – Uel Hoey
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO NI TOURISM – Killyhevlin Hotel
BEST NI VISITOR ATTRACTION 2017 – Seamus Heaney HomePlace
NI TRAVEL STUDENT OF THE YEAR 2017 – Lauren Willis
BEST TRAVEL INSURANCE COMPANY – Blue Insurance
BEST LUXURY CRUISE LINE – Silversea
BEST SPECIALIST CRUISE LINE – Hurtigruten
BEST CRUISE LINE – Royal Caribbean
BEST HOLIDAY ADD-ONS OR CAR HIRE PROVIDER – Holiday Extras
BEST AIRLINE, BELFAST CITY AIRPORT – Aer Lingus
BEST AIRLINE, BELFAST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – easyJet
BEST AIRLINE WORLDWIDE – Emirates
BEST FERRY COMPANY – Stena Line
BEST ACCOMMODATION ONLY SPECIALIST – Room Team/WTC
BEST TRAVEL INDUSTRY INTERNET BOOKING SYSTEM – Jet2holidays
BEST WORLDWIDE TOUR OPERATOR – Gold Medal/Travel 2
BEST SPECIALIST TOUR OPERATOR – American Holidays
BEST LUXURY TOUR OPERATOR – If Only…
BEST SKI OPERATOR – Topflight
BEST TOUR OPERATOR TO EUROPE – Jet2holidays
BEST TOURIST BOARD – Spanish Tourist Board
TRAVEL TRADE MANAGER/REPRESENTATIVE OF THE YEAR – Robert Wilson
NI TRAVEL MARKETING INITIATIVE 2017 – Car Give Away Promotion, Blue Insurance
BEST SALES SUPPORT TEAM TO NI TRAVEL TRADE – Travel Solutions
NI TRAVEL & TOURISM INDUSTRY’S ROLL OF HONOUR – Ciaran O’Hare
NI TRAVEL CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR 2017 – Chandra Rowan
BEST NI MULTIPLE RETAIL AGENCY BRANCH 2017 – Thomson, Newry
NI TRAVEL INDUSTRY AWARD 2017 – Doreen McKenzie
NORTHERN IRELAND TRAVEL AGENT OF THE YEAR – Downe Travel
NI TRAVEL INDUSTRY AWARD 2017 – Doreen McKenzie
NI TRAVEL AGENT OF THE YEAR 2017 – Downe Travel
