Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards 2007

The full list of winners was:

Best Tourist Information Centre - Belfast Welcome Centre
NI Special Achievement Award - Belfast International Airport
Best NI Event/Marketing Initiative - NI Festival of Racing
Best Visitor Attraction - Belfast Z00

Travel Student of the Year - Shardai O'Rourke

Best Domestic Airline - bmi
Best Airline Worldwide - Continental Airlines
Best Charter Airline - MyTravel Airways
Best Low Fare Airline - easyJet
Best Ferry/Shipping Company - Stena Line
Best Destination Marketing - Barbados
Best Travel Industry Internet Booking System - HotelConnect
Best Sales Support team to NI Travel Trade - Falcon Holidays
Best Car Hire Company - Holiday Autos
Best Cruise Line - Royal Caribbean International
Best Package Tour Operator - Falcon Holidays
Best Long Haul Operator - Kuoni
Best Specialist Operator - American Holidays
Best Coach Tour Operator - Ulsterbus
Best Ski Operator - Topflight
Travel Trade Representative of the Year - Siobhan Boskett

Best NI Multiple Retail Group - Travelcare
NI Travel and Tourism Personality - Debbie Abbott.
NI Travel and Tourism Industry: Roll of Honour - Ian Slaughter and Will Dunlop
NI Travel Agency of the Year - Oasis Travel

THE achievement of Belfast International Airport in continuing to grow its direct air services at a rapid rate as well as convincing Aer Lingus to set up its UK base at Aldergove was recognised by a major award at the 16th Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards Gala at the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa.
And the success of the Northern Ireland Festival of Racing at Down Royal was also marked by a major honour at the Awards, organised by Northern Ireland Travel News.

The Northern Ireland Special Achievement Award recognises the continuing rapid growth at the airport, which now has more than 40 direct scheduled services to the Continent and North America, and especially the major decision recently by Aer Lingus to make Belfast International its UK base, station three aircraft at Aldergrove and launch eight routes in the next few months.

The Aer Lingus move has been described as one of the most significant developments in the travel and tourism industry for the last decade.

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Festival of Racing has attracted race-goers,top jockeys, owners and trainers from all over the British Isles and has brought millions of pounds into the local economy.

This was recognised when Down Royal Racecourse Manager Mike Todd received the Tyrone Crystal trophy for the Best Event/Marketing Initiative at the prestigious Tourism Awards gala dinner attended by more than 400 top movers and shakers from the Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism industry.

Now in its ninth year, the two-day Racing Festival held at the beginning of November, has thrived, despite setbacks as diverse as foot and mouth disease and bomb scares, joining the likes of the North West 200, the Milk Cup and big golf spectaculars as providing a shop window for Northern Ireland sport and the Province in general.

The Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards gala was again hosted by TV personality Angela Rippon, with 26 different awards handed over in the various categories.
For the first time, the event had a number of different sponsors, as opposed to just one… Stena Line, Royal Caribbean International, Attraction World, bmi, Keith Prowse Attraction Tickets and Blue Insurances.

The Award for the Best Visitor Attraction in the Province recognised the ongoing programme of infrastructure improvements and work with endangered species at Belfast Zoo; while Belfast Welcome Centre's task in providing the first point of contact with many thousands of new visitors to the Province was recognised with the Award for the Best Tourist Information Centre.

One of the most sought-after awards on the night was the Tyrone Crystal World Globe for the Travel Agent of the Year.

For the fifth time in 17 years of the Awards, Oasis Travel based in Lisburn was the recipient. No other travel agency has won the award more than once - a fact which underlines the scale of the Oasis achievement and its consistency in providing a quality service.

The Northern Ireland Travel Personality of the Year award went to Debbie Abbott who has been responsible for setting up and overseeing the operations of low cost airline Jet2 in the Province; while the award for the Best Multiple Travel Agency Group went to Travelcare.

There was as usual keen rivalry in the various travel categories, with Falcon Holidays completing a double - taking the prestigious honour for the Best Package Holiday Operator and the award for the Best Sales Support to the NI Travel Trade.

Stena Line and bmi continued their phenomenal run of success in the Best Ferry Company and Best Domestic Airline categories respectively, while Topflight continued its run of success in the section for the Best Ski Operator. Continental Airlines, operator of the highly successful Belfast-New York daily air service, was the winner of the accolade for the Best Airline Worldwide.

The award for the Travel Student of the Year, sponsored by NI Travel News, went to Shardai O'Rourke from Portaferry.

Meanwhile, two new names were included in the Travel Industry's Roll of Honour, Will Dunlop and Ian Slaughter, both well known figures in retail travel.

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