The ceremony also saw Newport’s La Vida Travel named Top Travel Agency in Wales and also Top Weddings and Honeymoons Agency, while there was a double triumph for Travel Counsellors, scooping Top Business Travel Agency and Top Luxury Agency.
Karen Simmonds, founder of London-based agency Travel Matters, was named the Intrepid Travel Sustainable Travel Champion of the Year and another of the night’s special awards saw Thorne Travel managing director Shona Thorne receive this year’s Contribution to Travel award.
Thorne said she was “absolutely gobsmacked” to receive the accolade, awarded for her focus on inspiring travel’s next generation and her efforts making a difference in her local community.
“I have an amazing team; they do all the work. I don’t normally come to these things, so I’m so excited to get the award back to them,” said Thorne.
“It cements our commitment to everything we do, and sends a strong message about what a great industry this is to come into. Top 50 really makes you focus, it gives you something to aim for, to document all the great work we do. I’m proud of every single one of them.”
Other regional winners on the night included Hampshire’s Meon Valley Travel, which was named Top Agency South East. “We’re in such revered company,” said managing director James Beagrie.
“We’re supported by some exceptionally talented people, and we have fun. When you employ the best people in the world and give them the best tools money can buy, you get out their way so they can really shine.
“Winning this award will have a quite profound impact, it reaffirms to everyone back in the office that this is a worthwhile endeavour – to actually do good, to be good, to be our best selves and do something that really sets us apart the rest of the high street. It’s a great industry to be in – we can add to, and enrich, the local high street.
“You’ve got to have a passion for this, we love what we do. Top 50 is hard work, it’s the only award in the industry that I know of where they actually make you work for it. We did the best work of our lives to be part of this, and if someone else had won, it would have been because they deserved it.”
’Absolutely massive’
Blackpool-based The Travel Village, meanwhile, was named Top Agency North West. Managing director Paula Nuttall said she was proud of the team. “They’re working hard at the moment – they really care about the customers and the business,” she said. “Tonight is not about us, it’s about them.”
Group chief executive Phil Nuttall added: “The team have got each other’s backs. You can tell that. We run a very tight ship. We make sure that everyone in the business puts an arm around each other.
“We care about the town of Blackpool and the Fylde coast – it’s absolutely massive for us. I think what we’ve created is really special. In the past 12 months, locally and nationally, we’ve grown through word of mouth. Our team care so much for our customers, who then tell all their friends and family about the business so it’s starting to expand.
“And it’s not just about the people who are here tonight, it’s the finance team, the customer care team back at the office. They’ve all contributed to making Travel Village what it is today. No one is going to be left out.”
