THE Travel Media Awards 2017, in association with Shannon Airport, took place last week at the 5* Shelbourne Hotel.
This year saw Shannon Airport come on board as the headline sponsor of the awards, including a new Lifetime Achievement Award.
Amadeus returned to sponsor the much sought after ‘Amadeus Innovator Award’ and category sponsors on the day were London City Airport, American Airlines, Adams & Butler and Las Vegas CVA.
The annual Travel Media Awards, now in their seventh year, are a highlight of the Irish travel industry calendar, for both media and trade.
Voting is independently audited and managed by the Department of Tourism at DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology).
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 during the awards including Business Class tickets to the US from American Airlines, a family holiday to France with Irish Ferries and KelAir Campotel and a luxury South Africa stay courtesy of Adams & Butler.
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 Airport to City Transportation, Best Hotel Breakfast, Best Instagram
Account by an Irish Travel Writer or Blogger and Media Recommendation for 2017.
Declan Power, Head of Aviation Development, Shannon Airport, said: “Shannon Airport were delighted to be headline sponsors this year of the 7th annual Travel Media Awards.
“This has been an important year for Shannon Airport with new routes to Europe and North America. It was great to celebrate this year’s achievements with all our media and trade colleagues.”
Michael Collins, MD of TravelMedia.ie, said:”Thank you to everyone who made this afternoon such a special and fun day, especially our new headline sponsors Shannon Airport, and a well-deserved congratulations to all our winners, in particular Pat Reede
(United Airlines), Stephen McKenna (The GoHop Group) and Onur Gul (Turkish Airlines).”
Winners at the awards included Aer Lingus for both Best Short Haul Airline and Best Long Haul Airine Flying West while the Best Travel Writer award went to Pól Ó Conghaile. The Amadeus Innovator Award was presented to Stephen McKenna of The GoHop Group andAtlas Travel Services and Pat Reede recieved the Shannon Airport Lifetime Achievement Award.
