MARCH 2020 PAGE 20 ITIA AWARDS 2020


IRELAND'S PREMIER SOURCE OF TRAVEL INFORMATION


Suzanne Rowe, Erica Oglesby , Antonio Paradiso and Alana Byrne of MSC with category sponsor Charles Wilson of Germany Travel,


M that


SC won the cruise


award for the second


successive year, a tri- umph for Suzanne Rowe, in her first year in charge of the Dublin operation. Antonio Paradiso says


this year’s ITIA awards has been the high- light of her career. “Our hard work and dedica- tion to the industry was recognised and we won


CRUISE: MSC


three awards. To win Best Main-


stream Cruise Line after seven years was no mean feat and we are hugely grateful to our trade part- ners who voted for us. We o we are successes to them. I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued support.


The launch of MSC Bellissima boosted MSC’s presence further in the Irish market. Shortlist: JMG, Marella, MSC, Norwe- gian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean. Previous win- ners: 2011-2-3-4-5-6-7 Royal Caribbean. 2018-9 MSC.


Category sponsor Emma McHale of Hertz, with Mary Denton and Philip Airey of Sunway,


T


Suzanne Rowe, Erica Oglesby and Alana Byrne of MSC with category sponsor Joe Gilmore of Ireland West Airport,


Airey, whose


he stewardship of Sunway recently passed from Tanya father


TOUR OP EUROPE: SUNWAY


founded the company, to Mary Denton but the penchant for winning awards stayed unchanged. Sunway have changed their res sys- tem, to integrate scheduled, charter and low cost air fares, and moved from sep- arate long haul and short haul databases, has been causing problems since it was implemented two years ago and caused knock on effects in dealing with travel agents.


Sunway’s US product, on sale this month is one area of growth. Club Med is also growing. particularly its ski re- sorts.


Sunway, which reduced capacity in 2019, is to continue moving away from chartered aircraft to using scheduled services. “We changed because charters did not give us the same flexibility as


scheduled services,” Mary says. key charter destinations that remain include Turkey, Salou and the Lapland product. The tour operator’s traditional base


in Agadir, however, has been discon- nected by the decision of Air Arabia to discontinue its 2w service, without warning, on November 2. Sunway of- fers extremely cheap transfers from the Ryanair destination, Marrakesh to its Agadir hotel portfolio.


The tour operator is committed to dealing with the trade. At the recent Travel centres conference Mary en- gaged with agents outlining the advan- tages of dealing with a tour operator, including issues such as supplier failure. Shortlist: Classic Collection, Con- corde Travel, Croatia Tours, Sunway, TUI. Previous winners: 2011 Sunworld, 2012 Thomas Cook, 2013-4-5-6-7-8-9


Category sponsor Stephen Sands of Riviera Travel with Beverleigh Fly and Lee Osborne of Bookabed,


B


ookaBed won the accommodation supplier of the


year awards for the ninth time in ten years.


Karl Tyrrell, MD of BookaBed. “We have continued to focus on improving user experi- ence of our websites, increased distribution via xml partners and off line travel agents and improv- ing our already high stan-


ACCOMMODATION ONLY: BOOKABED


dards of customer care” “Staff numbers have


increased in areas such as product/contracting, sales, customer service, admin and our fast grow- ing flight+hotel section in order to provide a better service our loyal and ever growing customer base.


Shortlist: Arrow Tours,


Bookabed, Globe Ho- tels, Sunway, Topflight. New category. Shortlist: Arrow Tours, Bookabed, Expedia, Innstant Travel, Stuba. Previous winners: 2011-2-3-4. Bookabed, 2015 Lowcost, 2016-7- 8-9 Bookabed.


Category sponsor Joe Gilmore of Ireland West Airport with Colleen Butler, Lee Osborne and Beverleigh Fly of Bookabed,


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