Five companies have been shortlisted for a travel brand of the decade award to be handed out by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Industry Group later this month.
Royal Caribbean International, EasyJet, TripAdvisor, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and Eurostar will battle it out for the honour which is to be announced at the group’s Travel Marketing Awards in London on March 24.
Cimtig said the award was hotly contested, with a large number of wide ranging brands from the travel and hospitality sector submitting themselves to a rigorous set of branding tests.
The judging process was carried out by leading travel industry and marketing sector branding experts under the chairmanship of Stephen Cheliotis, chief executive of The Centre for Brand Analysis and chairman of Superbrands Councils.
The criteria for selection, which included written submissions and supporting evidence from the brands, was built around four key criteria: Quality, Reputation, Leadership and Distinction.
Cheliotis said: “The submissions from across the travel sector were extremely strong, in all honesty to my surprise, resulting in a lively judging process that truly scrutinised every brand in detail to ensure that the correct decision was made.
“The leading brand changed a number of times throughout the process but in the end we know we have selected the worthy winner.”
Cimtig chairman Gary Grieve added: “We were overwhelmed with the volume of brands that submitted entries for the award, and the standard of entries was stunning.
“It indicates clearly that the travel industry is populated with some of the most famous, innovative and well thought of brands in British industry.”