TravelManagers immediately rejects NTIA nomination

The news cycle moves quickly in the world of travel, and particularly when it comes to nominations.

So, what’s the big news?

Well, as you might’ve already seen, the Nominations for the 2018 AFTA National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) have been announced, however, the folks at TravelManagers have decided to decline the nomination.

According to a press release: “Despite having initially being nominated in the ‘Best Broker Travel Network’ category, TravelManagers has advised AFTA of their decision to decline the nomination”

As Chief Operating Officer, Grant Campbell, explains, in previous years TravelManagers was nominated in the ‘Best Travel Agency Retail – Multi Location’ category, but in 2018, the company was nominated in a newly-created category: ‘Best Broker Travel Network’.

“We don’t consider ‘Best Broker Travel Network’ to be an appropriate descriptor for the TravelManagers business model, in which our personal travel managers design customised holidays that are tailored to their individual client’s requirements,” says Campbell.

“We believe that to position our PTMs as travel brokers for the purposes of this award would be to undersell their expertise, knowledge and specialist service.”

2018 represents the 9th year that TravelManagers has been nominated in a category for the NTIA, and that as a company they would be willing to be involved in the NTIA in the future, should a more appropriate category be offered, or a nomination made in a different category.

“We very much appreciate the generous support from our industry partner suppliers in receiving this year’s nomination, which we believe reflects the strong relationships we have all worked hard to build and maintain, as well as the efforts made by each individual personal travel manager in maintaining our position as Australia’s leading premium travel network.”

“AFTA were respectful of our decision to decline and have invited us to suggest an alternative category name for use in future years,” Campbell says.

“In the meantime, we wish them AFTA and the NTIA Events Team all the very best for the upcoming awards ceremony and look forward to once again participating in the future.”