It was the night of Virgin Atlantic Airways, Visa, India Tourism, TUI Travel and Silversea Cruises, all of which won across various award's category in the World Travel Awards Grand Final. The ceremony was hosted at the five-star Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott Hotel in London’s Mayfair on November 8, 2009. The awards, touted as the 'Oscars' of the global travel and tourism industry by the Wall Street Journal felicitated the best in the world. The Grand Final ceremony concludes the 2009 regional tour, which has taken the World Travel Awards to Dubai, South Africa, Mexico and Portugal, celebrating the achievements of the shining stars of the travel and tourism industry. The World Travel Awards Grand Final, which took place on the eve World Travel Market, concluded the World Travel Awards Grand Tour for 2009.
There were awards in various categories. The world winner included, Etihad Airways, World’s Leading Airline; InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, World’s Leading Hotel Brand; London, England, World’s Leading Destination; Dnata, World’s Leading Travel Management Company and Regency Travel and Tours, Qatar, World’s Leading Travel Agency. Expedia.co.uk, won the award for being World’s Leading Travel Booking Website whereas Fairmont Hotels & Resorts scooped World’s Leading Hotel Brand Website award. The awards, over the years, have evolved as a matter of pride. Growing numbers of travel companies, airlines, operators and resorts compete with each other every year to bag them home. The winner of these coveted awards gets instant international brand recognition and enjoys building consumer loyalty.
Graham Cooke, President and Founder, World Travel Awards commented on these awards that the past year had brought several challenges that impacted travel and tourism worldwide but the winners of these award remained focused to their goals of providing excellent services that had set an industry example. He added that the winners can display the official World Travel Awards symbol with pride on their sales and marketing literature and that would be a guarantee of world class travel product. Over 1000 travel companies were nominated in 94 World categories and 14 Travel Technology categories in the Grand Final ceremony. The full list of winners for the World Travel Awards can be found by logging on to www.worldtravelawards.com/winners. Many international dignitaries graced the occasion including 120 Miss World 2009 finalists, supporting their respective destinations.
