From left: Award winners Michael Hughes (Wild Dog Design), Claudia Miguel (Portuguese National Tourist Office), Emma Taylor (Faremine), Zoe Davidson (McKinlay Kidd), Andrew Harris (James Hallam Travel & Tour), Peter Sommer (Peter Sommer Travels), Simon Scutt (On Foot Holidays), Natalie Swinburne (Malta Tourism Authority), Alastair Donnelly (Inside Travel Group), Tony Bean (Vamoos)
Aito, The Specialist Travel Association, has honoured members and partners at its annual Members Awards ceremony.
The awards were given out after the association had held its annual general meeting yesterday (March 5) at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in London.
Martyn Sumners, executive director of AITO, said: “We are very pleased to be able to acknowledge the services and support provided by our business partners and tourist offices, whose contribution to Aito is highly regarded by both our tour operators and travel agents.
“The tour operator award was, as ever, a very closely-run race; Aito members always score highly with their customer feedback.
“It’s great to see some of AITO’s smaller specialist companies taking the top three positions among our 120-plus tour operators.
“We now have over 17,000 independent customer reviews on aito.com and it is becoming an important hub of information and ideas from our specialist tour operators and their vast array of holiday experiences.”
The largest-ever Aito gathering in the UK saw 140 Aito tour operators, Aito agents, business partners, Sustainable Tourism Project Protect members and tourist offices at the AGM.
2019 Aito Tour Operator of the Year
This award goes to Aito members with exceptional reviews on aito.com:
Bronze – McKinlay Kidd
Joint Silver – On Foot Holidays & Peter Sommer Travels
Gold – Inside Travel Group
Highly Commended: Absolute Escapes, Safari Consultants, Wilderness Scotland
2019 Aito Business Partner
This award goes to the Aito business partner which provided the best service and product in 2019, as voted by Aito tour operators and agents:
Bronze – Wild Dog Design
Silver – Faremine
Gold – Vamoos
2019 Aito Affiliate Tourist Office
This award goes to the Aito Affiliate tourist office which provided the best service and product in 2019, as voted by Aito tour operators and agents:
Bronze – Malta Tourism Authority
Silver – Polish National Tourism Authority
Gold – Portuguese National Tourist Office
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