Gold awards for travel chain
Stewart Travel, which has a branch in Belfast’s Castlecourt, has picked up gold in the best medium size independent agency category at the 2019 British Travel Awards.
Sister companies in Brooklyn Travel Holidays also picked up a further three awards at the event at London’s Battersea Evolution.
Gold awards went to the company’s specialist Santa Holidays tour operator, Canterbury Travel.
The company’s Canada holidays specialists, My Canada Trips, also won gold for its tailor-made tours to Canada.
A silver award went to specialist golf holidays operator GolfKings.
The awards are made after voting by customers.
This year, from July to September, a total of 402,734 people voted.
Voting categories included overseas tour operators, airlines, cruise lines, hotels, “staycation” attractions and accommodation specialists, plus those essential extras such as travel insurance, currency exchange, price comparison websites and airport parking.
Brooklyn Travel Holdings chief executive Duncan Wilson said: “This is a wonderful performance by the company and all credit is due to the marvellous staff who make up the Brooklyn Travel family.
“It also shows the recognition of our enormously loyal clients and customers who voted for us. And it’s a great testimony to the expertise of our agents who focus on the needs of the client.
“While we are growing the business, we remain comparatively small and to achieve this result in the context of a UK-wide poll is a fabulous recognition for the service we provide.
“We look forward to bringing our award-winning service to even more people next year.”
BTA chief Lorraine Barnes Burton said: “Competition was fierce across many of the categories and this year’s winners should be very proud – congratulations to all winners and thank you to everyone who took the trouble to vote.”