Press release date: 7th June 2018
The Travel Media Awards 2018, in association with Shannon Airport, took place today at the 5* Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.
Shannon Airport returned for a second year as the headline sponsor of the awards, as well as sponsor of the Shannon Airport Lifetime Achievement Award. Amadeus once again sponsored the much sought after Amadeus Innovator Award, and category sponsors on the day were Las Vegas CVA, Malta Tourism Authority, United Airlines and the Portuguese National Tourism Board.
The annual Travel Media Awards, now in their eighth year, are a highlight of the Irish travel industry calendar, for both media and trade. Well-known travel writers and broadcasters Fionn Davenport and Deirdre Mullins were back again this year to MC the big day and as always, there were lots of surprises and giveaways.
The Travel Media Awards are unique in that they are the only awards that call on members of the media to vote for their favourite travel companies. This year’s awards featured some exciting new categories including Best Luxury Hotel Group, Best Destination Representative, Best Themepark and Best Breakout Irish Travel Writer.
Declan Power, Head of Aviation Development, Shannon Airport, said, “Following the wonderful success of last year’s awards we were very excited to return as headline sponsors for the Travel Media Awards 2018. This year was bigger, better and even more fun-filled! 2018 has been a great year for Shannon Airport so far – we’re celebrating 20 years with United Airlines, 30 years with Ryanair and 30 years of US pre-clearance through Shannon Airport. We’ve seen great growth over the last five years and look forward to it continuing throughout 2018.”
Commenting on the awards, Michael Collins, MD of TravelMedia.ie, said, “Thank you to everyone who made this afternoon such a special and fun day, especially our headline sponsor Shannon Airport, and a well-deserved congratulations to all our winners, in particular Alan Sparling (ASM Ireland), Richard Burgess (APG) and Tom Travers (Hotel Beacon NYC).”
The full winners list is below:
- Best Short Haul Airline – Aer Lingus
- Best Long Haul Airline Flying West – Aer Lingus
- Best Long Haul Airline Flying East – Emirates
- Best Airport Lounge (Worldwide) – Turkish Airlines, Istanbul Ataturk Airport
- Best Luxury Hotel Group – Hastings Hotel
- Best Budget Hotel Group – Clayton Hotels
- Best Spa & Leisure Offering – Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa
- Best Cruise Company – Royal Caribbean International
- Best Ferry Company – Stena Line
- Best Canal or River Cruise Company – Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
- Best Car Hire Company – Hertz
- Best Tour Operator – Sunway
- Best Online Travel Agent – GoHop
- Best Ski Operator – Crystal Ski Holidays
- Best Travel Insurance Provider – Blue Insurance
- Best City or Short Break Destination – London
- Best Destination Representative – Tryphavana Cross
- Best Theme Park (Worldwide) – Universal Orlando Resort
- Best Tourist Board or CVB – Spanish Tourism Office
- Best Use of Social Media by a Travel Company Operating in the Irish Market – Tour America
- Best Instagram Account by an Irish Travel Writer or Blogger – @WhereisTaraBlog (Tara Povey)
- Best Breakout Irish Travel Writer – Sarah Glascott, Taste.ie
- Best Irish Travel Blog – Tom Sweeney’s Travels
- Pleasure to Work With 2018 – Tom Travers, Hotel Beacon NYC
- Amadeus Innovator Award – Richard Burgess, APG
- Shannon Airport Lifetime Achievement Award – Alan Sparling, ASM Ireland
To see photos from the awards visit the TravelMedia.ie Facebook page. Please feel free to tag, like and share with your friends. Professional photography from the event is available on request.
Parts of the event were also streamed live on the TravelMedia.ie Facebook page, you can watch them back here.
To catch up on all the action on the day check out our Twitter feed and the main event hashtag #TMevents.
All voting was independently audited and managed by Alex Gibson, DIT.
TravelMedia.ie
Michael Collins
Ph: +353 868583585
Email: michael@travelmedia.ie
Michelle Ryan
Email: michelle@travelmedia.ie
Ph: +353 83 1042620
Niamh Waters
Email: niamh@travelmedia.ie
Ph: +353 86 0492394
Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TravelMedia_ie and on Facebookwww.facebook.com/TravelMedia.ie
