A Night of Celebration was held for the TTG Travel Awards 2015, culminating awarding 83 winners who represent the best and brightest in the Asia-Pacific industry.
18 new winners have emerged across various categories, taking home the signature Hermes Trophy for the first time.
First time winners such as Vietjet, Gardens by the Bay and Buffalo Tours have successfully claimed titles that were dominated by long-time winners, taking the honour of Best Asian Low-Cost Carrier, Best Theme Attraction, and Best Travel Agency – Vietnam respectively.
Pierre-Andre Pelletier (right), Vice President, Area General Manager South Thailand and General Manager of Amari Phuket receives the Best Beach Resort award for Amari Phuket from Mario Hardy – CEO of PATA and Michael Chow – Group Publisher of TTG Travel Trade Publishing.
The roll call of inaugural winners also includes POP Hotel Kuta Beach Bali, Mira Moon, Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur, The Westin Singapore, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport and Amari Phuket from the Hotels – Individual, positioning themselves as the best of the best in the travel trade industry.
Amid strong competition, 16 of the night’s winning organisations have continued to grow from strength to strength, making their remarkable comebacks into the awards.
Among them are Accor Hotels and Holiday Inn Express, reclaiming their titles as Best Global Hotel Chain and Best Budget Hotel Brand respectively.
Other returning winners included The Langham Hong Kong (Best City Hotel – Hong Kong) and Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre (Best Convention & Exhibition Centre).
Panga Vathanakul (right), Managing Director of Royal Cliff Hotels Group, and Vitanart Vathanakul (2nd right), Executive Director of Royal Cliff Hotels Group, showcase Royal Cliff’s TTG Travel Hall of Fame Award 2015 with H.E. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul (2nd left), Minister of Tourism and Sports, and Suthikiati Chirathivat (left), Chairman of the Board of Centara Hotels & Resort.
While first time and returning winners made their way into TTG Travel Awards, veteran organisations such as Qatar Airways, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, Resorts World at Sentosa Pte Ltd., and Singapore Tourism Board have successfully defended their titles with consecutive wins, continuing their reign as the industry’s giants.
Other industry giants such as Tourism Promotion Board (Philippines) and Best Western International were handpicked by TTG Publishing’s editorial team as Best Marketing & Relationship Effort and Best Trade Supporter for their outstanding achievements.
Chower Narula (right), MD of World Media Co. Ltd., receives the TTG Pioneer Award for his lifelong contributions and dedication to the travel trade industry.
Myanmar was crowned Destination of the Year, and Ryoichi Matsuyama, president of JNTO was announced as the Travel Personality of the Year.
The Awards also welcomed 2 new TTG Travel Hall of Fame honoraries – Regal Airport Hotel and Banyan Tree Spa into the elite ranks of the travel trade industry for their impressive achievement of winning the same award over the past 10 years.
A virtual Hall of Fame (http://www.ttghof.com) was launched in late September with the objective to showcase the accolades and memorabilia of the Hall of Fame inductees to a global audience.
Darren Ng (2nd left), MD TTG Asia Media, Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul (centre), Minister of Tourism and Sports, Krittaphon Chantalitanon (2nd right), Vice President of Aviation Services Support Department, THAI, and Petchpring Sarasin (right), THAI Vice President of Corporate Image & Communications Department proudly hold the award presented to Thai Airways International for Best South-East Asian Airline.
For the first time, TTG Travel Awards also honored 2 of their industry partners – Jae Pil Sho, editor and publisher of Travel Press Korea, and Chower Narula, managing director of World Media for their lifelong contributions and immense dedication to the travel trade industry and also TTG Asia Media.
This year, the 26th Annual TTG Travel Awards 2015 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 – The world’s only double bill event in MICE and Corporate Travel.
