We are delighted to reveal the short list of finalists for this year’s Group Travel Awards.
Thanks to votes made by the readers of GTO magazine and the Group Travel Grapevine, we have been able to compile a diverse list of quality finalists reflecting the day trips and holidays that you and your group have undertaken over the past year.As well as the main awards, there will also be five other awards featured in the evening’s programme, voted for by our editorial panel. These are:
- Innovation in Tourism
- Little Treasures of Britain Award
- Development of Incoming Group Visitors to the UK Award
- Technological Innovation Award
- Outstanding Contribution to Group Travel by an Individual Award
All winners will be announced during an evening of glitz and glamour on Friday 7th June at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London. Winners of our main awards are never notified before the event and will not know they have won until the golden envelope is opened on stage!
Group Travel Awards 2018 Review Supplement
The 2018 Group Travel Awards, took place on Friday 1st June 2018 at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London when the winners in each of the 25 categories were announced.
The results were kept under wraps until our gala evening, when they were announced on stage by our sponsors and Matt Johnson; our presenter and host for our special 22nd award ceremony!
The 2019 finalists are…
- British Airways
- easyJet
- Flybe
- Jet2.com
- KLM
- Virgin Atlantic
- Belgium
- Brussels
- Cyprus
- Germany
- Ireland
- Prague
- Switzerland
- Cruise & Maritime Voyages
- Emerald Waterways
- Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines
- Norwegian Cruise Line
- P&O Cruises
- Voyages to Antiquity
- City & Village Tours Brochure 2019
- Delfont Mackintosh Theatres Groups Guide
- English Heritage Group Visits Guide 2018/2019
- Leeds Castle Group & Travel Trade Guide 2019/2020
- The National Trust Groups Guide 2018
- greatdays.co.uk
- justforgroups.com
- Bateaux London
- Blenheim Palace
- Faulty Towers; The Dining Experience
- Frankie & Bennie’s
- Planet Hollywood
- SS Great Britain
- The Medieval Banquet
- Bakers Dolphin
- Daish’s Holidays
- David Ogden Holidays
- Dunwood Travel
- Eastons Holidays
- Edwards Coaches
- Harry Shaw
- Kirby’s Coaches
- Lucketts Travel
- Shearings
- Solus Coaches
- Longleat
- Monkey World
- Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve & Leisure Park
- SEA LIFE London Aquarium
- West Midland Safari & Leisure Park
- Woburn Safari Park
- ZSL London Zoo
- Condor Ferries
- DFDS
- Eurostar
- Eurotunnel
- P&O Ferries
- Wightlink
- Airedale Tours
- Daish’s Holidays
- Greatdays Travel Group
- IOW Tours
- Just for Groups!
- Riviera Travel
- Simply Groups
- South Quay Travel
- Travel Editions
- Travelsphere
- Devon Cliffs, Exmouth (Haven)
- Lower Hyde Holiday Park, Isle of Wight (Parkdean Resorts)
- Mill Rythe Holiday Village, Hayling Island (Away Resorts)
- Norton Grange Coastal Village, Isle of Wight (Warner Leisure Hotels)
- Potters Resort, Hopton, Norfolk
- Beaulieu
- Burghley House
- Drayton Manor Theme Park
- Legoland Windsor Resort
- Longleat
- Natural History Museum
- Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter
- Cologne Cathedral, Germany
- Disneyland Paris
- Guinness Storehouse, Ireland
- Keukenhof Gardens, Netherlands
- Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
- Titanic Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Claremont Hotel, Eastbourne (Daish’s)
- Constantinou Bros Athena
- Beach Hotel, Paphos
- Daish’s Hotel, Isle of Wight
- Rendezvous Hotel, Skipton
- St Kilda Hotel, Llandudno
- The Strand Palace Hotel, London
- Thoresby Hall Hotel, Ollerton (Warner Leisure Hotels)
- Yarn Market Hotel, Dunster
- Delfont Macintosh Theatres
- Encore Tickets
- Group Line
- Groups Direct
- See Groups
- Ticket Factory
- Ticketline
- Ticketmaster
- Christmas at Kew
- Classical Spectacular – Royal Albert Hall
- Edinburgh Tattoo
- John Rutter’s Christmas Celebration – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Longleat’s Festival of Light
- RHS Hampton Court Flower Show
- Royal Ascot
- Thursford Christmas Spectacular
- Canterbury Historic River Tours
- City Cruises
- CroisiEurope Cruises
- French Brothers
- MBNA Thames Clippers
- River Cruise Line
- Thames River Services
- CrossCountry
- Eurostar
- GWR
- LNER
- South West Trains
- Virgin Trains
- BBC Tours
- Canterbury Guided Tours
- City & Village Tours
- Emmerdale Village Tour
- Groups Direct
- Houses of Parliament
- Royal Albert Hall
- Shakespeare’s Globe
- The Original Tour
- 42nd Street
- Aladdin
- Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
- Les Misérables
- Mamma Mia!
- The Lion King
- Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
- Wicked
- Cardiff University
- Imperial College London
- St Aidan’s College at Durham University
- University Of Kent, Canterbury
- University of Portsmouth
- York Conferences at The University of York
- Blenheim Palace
- Buckingham Palace
- Chatsworth House
- Hampton Court Palace
- Hever Castle
- Osborne House
- RHS Garden Wisley
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- The Savill Garden
- Abacus Hotels
- Daish’s Hotel Group
- GLH Hotels
- Jurys Inn
- Leisureplex Hotels
- TLH Leisure Resort
- Warner Leisure Hotels
- BODY WORLDS London
- Buckingham Palace
- Churchill War Rooms
- Coca-Cola London Eye
- Cutty Sark
- Houses of Parliament
- Royal Albert Hall
- The View from The Shard
- Tower of London
- Aerospace Bristol
- Bletchley Park
- Brighton i360
- Leighton Hall
- Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
- Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust
- The Beatles Story
- Waddesdon Manor
- Bournemouth
- Bristol
- Canterbury
- Isle of Wight
- Kent
- Liverpool
- London
- Manchester
Introducing Michaela
We are excited that our award host for our prestigious gala awards evening will be Michaela Strachan. One of Britain’s most loved television presenters, BAFTA award-winning Michaela Strachan, has been a regular face on our screens for over three decades.
Michaela is one of the regular presenting team on Springwatch and has recently been back on BBC Two for Autumnwatch and Winterwatch. Michaela has worked extensively as a presenter on the BBC, spending 15 years presenting the hugely popular The Really Wild Show and 10 years on Countryfile, as well as Orangutan Diaries, Elephant Diaries, Shark Encounters and Orangutan Rescue.
Her presenting career began on such programmes as TV-am, The Wide Awake Club with Timmy Mallett, Boogie Box, The Hitman and Her and The Really Wild Show. Other successful shows include Michaela’s Wild Challenge (Channel 5), which was a double BAFTA award-winning production, earning Michaela the BAFTA for Best Children’s Presenter and the programme the BAFTA for Best Children’s Factual.
Other programmes for Channel 5 include Michaela’s Zoo Babies, Michaela’s Animal Road Trip, Animal Rescue Squad and Animal Families. Michaela also presented two series of Great British Ghosts (Yesterday TV), One Man and his Dog (BBC), The Fossil Roadshow (BBC), Full Bloom (BBC) and Club Vegetarian (Granda TV).
Recently, Michaela has been touring zoos, wildlife parks and festivals with her children’s show Michaela Strachan’s Really Wild Adventures, a fun, factual, educational and interactive show which has been adapted from her book of the same name. And over the summer of 2018, Michaela completed a tour of the arena spectacular Walking with Dinosaurs playing the part of Huxley the palaeontologist with a cast of life sized animatronic dinosaurs.
Our band for the night
Excellent live music is a staple of the Group Travel Awards and this year All Covered Up, an outstanding collaboration of the UK’s top professional musicians of the moment, will be entertaining guests after the Award presentation.
The band includes some of the most talented musicians on the circuit and they have been carefully selected for the evening for their excellent talents, their electrifying sound and the energy that they bring to every performance.
The band members have played, recorded and backed top artists including Alesha Dixon, Usher, Craig David and Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
Many of the band members have worked on some of the best productions on cruise ships and are sure to get everyone on the dance floor.
In exchange for your sponsorship, we offer:
- Editorial coverage in GTO in issues leading up to the event.
- Complimentary seats at the gala evening presentation event.
- Coverage in the Awards Menu.
- Your logo to appear on a powerpoint display during the gala evening, plus enhanced exposure when you present your category.
- Your company logo displayed prominently on the Group Travel Awards website, together with a direct link to your own web site.
- Together with our Celebrity Host, you will present the trophy to the winner of your chosen category.
- Editorial coverage regarding your involvement in the awards will be published in the special Awards Supplement which accompanies the June/July 2019 issue of GTO Magazine after the event.
- Logo credits on e-mails promoting the event.
Sponsorship of The Group Travel Awards is an opportunity to invest and celebrate in group travel excellence!
Contact Sarah Jeffery
With a passion for travel, Sarah has worked within the industry for almost 20 years. 17 of these have been spent with Landor Travel Publications, specialising in the group travel industry; working on GTO Magazine, together with regional and national group travel exhibitions. The 2019 Group Travel Awards will be the 11th that Sarah has organised and are the highlight of Sarah’s industry calendar.
To discuss sponsorship opportunities or should you have any questions about the awards, please contact Sarah via one of the methods below.
2019 Group Travel Awards