Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that a couple weeks ago, we held the Australian Travel Awards!
The event saw 450 Aussie travel industry guys and gals celebrate another amazing year, with bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. Oh, and some shiny trophies for the best of the best.
Over the course of the night, some pretty kick-ass companies were awarded in 35 categories, plus a Grand Prix prize for the most impressive entry overall.
ICYMI, that award went to…Intrepid! They’ve won an advertising package worth over $75,000 across the Seven West Media network, plus unlimited bragging rights until the end of time.
You can find the rest of the winners here, as well as all the happy snaps from the event here, here and here.
Another hotly-contested award was Wholesaler of the Year, which went to Excite Holidays this year! Of their entry, one of our judges said this:
“A fantastic submission which truly demonstrated what a huge year Excite Holidays had and how much is to come! Congratulations.”
But to hear it straight from the source, we spoke to Nicholas Stavropoulos, executive director at Excite Holidays – who said it was a “huge honour” to win an Australian Travel Award.
“We are extremely proud of what we have achieved this year, as we continue to expand our global footprint with a successful launch into the USA, launched our first brand video, expanded our already vast product inventory and continued to innovate our booking platform,” he said.
“We do all of this for our agents, but to have our efforts recognised at the end of a big year is the icing on the cake!”
Stavropoulos added that Excite Holidays entered the Australian Travel Awards because having different awards programmes is important for any industry – particularly this one.
“Awards are important because it gives us all a reason to step back and celebrate in what we have collectively achieved as an industry. It is fantastic to see another awards programme establish itself and shake up the way we acknowledge success,” he said.
“We believe in what the Australian Travel Awards represent, and we were more than eager to throw our hat in the ring.”
One of our fabulous judges may have said Excite had a “fantastic submission”, but Stavropoulos thinks their entry stood out because it focussed on Excite’s innovative spirit.
“Our entry focused very heavily on what we’ve achieved, but also what we have planned for the future,” he said.
“We are never settled, always looking to challenge the status quo. That innovative spirit has driven this business forward for 16 years, and will continue to do so for many more.”
Excite Holidays now have over 400,000 hotels and 100,000 activities on their platform – but Stavropoulos said this is just the beginning for the company.
“We’ve always taken pride in doing things differently. When Excite Holidays started out 16 years ago, it was with a simple idea – that there was a better way to service the travel trade by using clever technology. This idea still drives us forward today.
“This can’t be done without owning our own technology platform. It allows us to be nimble, and build solutions for our agents’ needs, and continue to develop as their needs change,” he said.
“Decisions we make are based on what is best for our agent base. This allows us to have a long-term view of development to grow an industry we are proud to service.”
