Travel Weekly has taken the decision to postpone the 2021 Globe Travel Awards for a year to ensure the event remains the pinnacle of the travel industry calendar and to allow readers to remain fully focused on essential business needs.
The Globes has been the traditional start of the new year for the travel industry for more than 40 years, with tens of thousands of travel agent votes deciding which travel suppliers are honoured at a glittering ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House hotel each January.
However, with uncertainty surrounding the future of live events and the travel industry needing to focus entirely on the process of survival and rebuilding in the months ahead, the decision has been taken to postpone the 2021 event from its planned date of January 14.
Stuart Parish, Travel Weekly managing director, said: “The Globes is an incredible night for the entire industry, and after such a spectacular 2020 ceremony it is with a heavy heart that we have decided to postpone January’s event.
“The Globes has grown in recent years with more than 1,200 in attendance. However, current social distancing restrictions would mean we could host less than half that number safely, and our guests’ welfare is paramount.”
He added: “I simply cannot imagine the Globes without a full room of guests, and the buzz and excitement that comes with the ‘Oscars of the Travel Industry’.
“The Globes will return bigger and better than ever on January 13, 2022, and we look forward to welcoming our readers, friends and colleagues to the most spectacular annual celebration of our sector when the time is right.”
Lucy Huxley, Travel Weekly editor-in-chief, said: “I am deeply saddened that we will not be able to bring our industry together in January as planned, but I have no doubt that this is the right decision to make.
“Alongside the practical barriers to running an event of this scale in the current climate, we are also mindful of the difficulties facing everyone in our industry, and do not wish to distract focus from their business in any way at this time.”
She added: “The Globes will return in 2022 and will be more spectacular than ever. In the meantime, we will continue to look at every possible opportunity to support, inspire and connect the industry which we are proud to serve, and we look forward to resuming our leading portfolio of face-to-face events and awards when it is safe and appropriate to do so.”