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Top agencies make shortlist for 2019 AAAs


Travel Weekly reporters


Leading travel agencies and agents from across the UK and Ireland have been unveiled as finalists in the 2019 Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards (AAAs).


The shortlist for the new-look


awards is revealed today and features 90 agencies and more than 25 individuals who will be vying for the trade’s top honours at a spectacular ceremony in London on July 11.


The shortlist includes new


categories introduced to showcase growth areas in the travel trade, as well as new regional categories to celebrate agency hotbeds in the Republic of Ireland and the East Midlands and East Anglia. A final new category, the One to


Watch Award, will be presented to an agency that has operated as a standalone business for fewer than two years. Lucy Huxley, Travel Weekly


Group editor-in-chief, said: “We were blown away again this year by the quality of the individual


entries, and our judges had an incredibly difficult time narrowing down the shortlists, let alone selecting the winners. “The number of votes in the supplier categories also reached record levels, which is proof of the importance so many travel companies place on trade distribution and their key travel agent partners.”


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Travel Weekly Group’s Stuart


Parish and Lucy Huxley at last year’s awards


She added: “Huge congratulations


to all those who have made the shortlists, which is an achievement in itself. “As Travel Weekly celebrates its


50th anniversary, we can’t wait to honour our winners at the trade’s


most prestigious agent awards.” › Full shortlist: pages 15-17 › For more on the AAAs, visit agentachievementawards.co.uk


5 Social media is hotbed for fake deals


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


Would-be conmen are increasingly turning to social media to tout fake holiday deals, according to travel anti-fraud group Profit.


Profit reported a growing trend


of fraudsters solely using social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to promote fake deals to con holidaymakers. It comes as Abta joins forces with Action Fraud and Get Safe


Online to make holidaymakers aware of how to avoid scams. New figures show more than 5,000 cases of holiday and travel booking fraud were reported last year, with total losses of £7 million. This was up from 4,382 victims and losses of £6.7 million in 2017. Speaking about the rise of fraud


on social media, Profit chairman Barry Gooch said: “We have seen a trend of people solely operating on social media. If you go back 18 months, we were not aware of anyone selling [fake] holidays just through social media.”


6travelweekly.co.uk9 May 2019


“Posts look legitimate, but it is surprising how many people in travel are sharing them”


Bruce Martin, managing director of Ginger Juice, a social media agency that specialises in travel, raised similar fears. “Social media companies talk a good talk about dealing with fake news, but seem slow at bringing posts down,” he said, urging the industry to report fake posts to force social


media companies to act faster.He added: “Posts can look legitimate, but it is surprising how many people in travel are sharing them.” Gooch said social media


platforms need to take the issue more seriously, adding that they “appear oblivious to the perils of online fraud and travel firms selling holidays on their sites without consumer protection”. No cases examined by Profit


had related to members of trade associations or consortia, he said. Report bogus social media posts to Profit: contactus@profit.uk.com.


PICTURE: STEVE DUNLOP


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