The 32nd Northern Ireland Travel & Tourism Awards took place on Friday, 11th October at the Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle. Oasis Travel picked up the award for Travel Agent of the Year for an impressive 11th time. Cruise winners included Silversea, Riviera, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean International with the Spanish Tourist Board earning Best Tourist Board accolade.
The Winners
- Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year 2024 – Oasis Travel
- Best Luxury Cruise Company 2024 – Silversea Cruises
- Best River Cruise Company 2024 – Riviera Cruises
- Best Premium Cruise Company 2024 – Celebrity Cruises
- Best Mainstream Cruise Company 2024 – Royal Caribbean International
- Best Tourist Board Award 2024 – Spanish Tourism Office
- Best Holiday Add-Ons or Car Hire Provider 2024 – Do Something Different
- Best Hotel Group 2024 – Iberostar Hotel Group
- Best Airline Worldwide 2024 – Emirates
- Best Accommodation Only Specialist 2024 – STUBA
- Best Ferry Company 2024 – Stena Line
- Best Ski Operator 2024 – Travel Solutions
- Best Worldwide Tour Operator 2024 – If Only…
- Best Luxury Operator 2024 – If Only …
- Best Specialist Tour Operator 2024 – Beachcomber Tours
- Best Escorted Tours Operator 2024 – Newmarket Holidays
- Best UK Airline 2024 – easyJet
- Best Airline to Europe 2024 – Jet2.com
- Best Tour Operator to Europe 2024 – Jet2holidays
- Best Sales Support Team to NI Travel Trade 2024 – Jet2holidays
- Best Travel Internet Booking System 2024 – Jet2holidays
- Best Tourist Information Centre 2024 – Visit Belfast Visitor Information Centre
- Best NI Visitor Attraction 2024 – Titanic Belfast
- NI Tourism Industry Award 2024 – McKeever Hotels
- NI Special Achievement Award 2024 – Ciaran O’Neill
- NI Travel Student of the Year 2024 – Saffron Montgomery
- NI Travel Trade Manager/ Representative of the Year 2024 – Robert Wilson
- NI Travel Industry Award 2024 – Nicola Allison
- NI Travel Consultant of the Year 2024 – Cara Morgan
- NI Travel & Tourism Industry’s Roll of Honour – Jill Russell
Multi-Award Winners
The Jet2.com and Jet2holidays were big winners with four awards. Jet2.com earned Best Airline to Europe 2024 and Jet2holidays won Best Travel Internet Booking System 2024, Best Tour Operator to Europe 2024 and Best Sales Support Team to NI Travel Trade 2024.
Travel Solutions picked up the award for Best Ski Operator 2024, while Robert Wilson picked up the award for NI Travel Trade Manager/ Representative of the Year 2024 for the second year in a row.
The McKeever Hotel Group, whose portfolio includes The Dunadry Hotel and Gardens, Corr’s Corner Hotel, the Dunsilly Hotel, Dillons Hotel, the Adair Arms Hotel and the Lodge Hotel Coleraine, was awarded the NI Tourism Industry Award 2024.
N.I. Special Achievement Award 2024 – Ciaran O’Neill
Ciaran O’Neill was awarded the NI Special Achievement Award 2024. With a career spanning over 35 years in the hospitality sector, he is the Managing Director at the Bishop’s Gate Hotel, Derry and has sat on the Board of Visit Derry for over a decade. His 14-year tenure on the Board of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation culminated in his role as President in 2016 while his commitment to nurturing future talent in the tourism sector is shown through his role as Chair of the Hospitality and Tourism Skills Network (HATs).
Meanwhile, the McKeever Hotel Group is a truly family affair that started out with a dream. A young man working as a chef from a very young age keen to learn and strive to grow. Roll forward to today and the company has expanded, moving into hotels through both construction and acquisition. During the remarkable 50-year journey, the group has shown strong principles of forward thinking and continued growth, all the while giving back to the industry through service on local boards, contributing to sectoral bodies and supporting their people.
Travel Student of the Year – Saffron Montgomery & Travel Consultant of the Year – Nicola Allison
This year’s Travel Student of the Year was Saffron Montgomery from the Belfast Metropolitan College while this year’s Travel Consultant of the Year was Cara Morgan from Terra Travel.
There was stiff competition for this year’s Travel Consultant of the Year award, while all this year’s student nominees were extremely talented and showed excellent promise for their future careers in the travel and tourism industries.
Travel Industry Award Winner – Nicola Allison
Another notable win at this year’s awards is Nicola Allison who, for the past 5 years has spearheaded the growth of the largest travel agency in Northern Ireland. Following the demise of Thomas Cook in 2019, she led her team through the transition to the Hays brand and now has 24 branches under her Regional Manager role, adding 3 new branches in the last few years. Her Northern Ireland region just recently achieved the status of number 1 region in the Hays network, a truly terrific achievement.
Jill Russell – Nothern Ireland Travel Industry Award
This year the prestigious Northern Ireland Travel Industry Award went to Jill Russell, an integral member of the Northern Ireland Travel industry for almost 40 years and a friend to all parts of the trade. Starting her career in 1984 with the English-based school travel company Hormone Ski Partners, over the next 12 years Jill built her reputation and a close network of colleagues. Following their buy-out by a multi-national, Jill joined Topflight. Jill is widely respected across all schools in Northern Ireland and the opportunity she has given to thousands of children across the country, she is a colleague and friend to everyone. Jill, who has been with Topflight for Schools for over 29 years, announced her retirement this year.
2024 Awards Ceremony
This year’s Awards ceremony was hosted by local comedy husband and wife duo, Diona Doherty and Sean Hegarty. Diona has starred in several hit TV shows including Derry Girls, Give My Head Peace and The Blame Game while Sean is easily recognisable from Britain’s Got Talent, Stand Up from the Sunflower and as the author of ‘Let me tell you a joke’ a new kids joke book released this year.
This year’s celebrations kicked off with a Champagne drinks reception, hosted by Dublin Airport where guests were welcomed by a ceremonial piper, courtesy of Loganair.
Hospitality was sponsored by Tourism Ireland with a fantastic ‘A Taste of Ireland’ menu while the wine was sponsored by Salou Tourism.
This year’s Awards entertainment was a Peter Corry production called The Greatest Show.
Stena Line once again presented every guest with a fantastic gift – every attendee on the evening received a voucher for a car and two passengers on any of Stena Line’s Irish Sea.
Later in the evening, The Bourbon Street Band took to the main stage, while DJ Nathan entertained guests into the wee hours in the bar. The evening’s entertainment (and the late night pizzas) were provided by Jet2holidays.
This year’s charity was the Motor Neurone Disease Association. This Charity does fantastic work for individuals, families and those affected by the disease. All monies raised on the evening of the NI Travel & Tourism Awards will go directly to the charity to support the work they do.
Stena Line, Travel Solutions, Yalago, Silversea Cruises and British Airways all returned as category sponsors for this year with the new addition of Visit Dubai as a category sponsor.
The Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards are organised by Northern Ireland Travel News who also sponsored the highly coveted Travel Agent of the Year Award.
This year the Travel Student of the Year award was sponsored by Bookit by NI Travel News.
Oasis Travel has previously claimed the title of Travel Agent of the Year in 1993, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2021.