Article
Five-star success at Northern Ireland Travel & Tourism Awards
Published: Tue 19 Oct 2021 at 09:31
Updated: Tue 19 Oct 2021 at 09:31
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays enjoyed a night of spectacular success at the 29th Northern Ireland Travel & Tourism Awards, by winning an unprecedented FIVE awards.
Jet2holidays, the UK’s leading tour operator to destinations across the Mediterranean and Canary Islands, scooped the coveted Best Tour Operator to Europe award for the sixth consecutive time.
In addition, the Jet2holidays Trade Team won a number of awards in recognition of the way that the company works and supports independent travel agents. This partnership approach has been critical during the pandemic and the awards recognise this. Jet2holidays won the Best Trade Engagement and Best Trade Innovation awards for the way the company has supported agents, and Kathryn Davies, Trade Sales Executive, won the Outstanding Trade Support award for her tireless work in supporting independent travel agents.
To cap off the successful event, organised by Northern Ireland Travel News in association with Blue Insurance, Jet2.com won Best Airline to Europe for the third time running.
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays have been widely praised and commended for their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, including swiftly and smoothly refunding over £1.4bn to customers who have had their flights or holidays cancelled. Most recently, both companies were once again awarded with Which? Recommended Provider status for the way they have looked after customers and independent travel agents. This summer the Institute of Customer Service ranked Jet2holidays as the best UK tour operator and Jet2.com as the best UK airline for providing customer service. Last year, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays were ranked as the Best Travel Firms for providing refunds according to a survey of respondents by Money Saving Expert, and the UK Civil Aviation Authority recognised Jet2.com as the only UK airline to provide prompt refunds.
With the Northern Ireland Executive recently easing travel restrictions, trade bookings have climbed sharply for the late Summer season as well as Winter 21/22 and Summer 22. As a result, the award-winning Jet2holidays Trade Team have been applying their partnership approach to make sure independent travel agents can capitalise on this demand to successfully grow their businesses.
Commenting on the awards Alan Cross, Head of Trade Sales at Jet2holidays, said: “We are enormously proud to receive this recognition from the Northern Ireland travel industry once again. Our entire industry has been through a very difficult time, but that is no excuse for making life difficult for customers or independent travel agents. We have remained wholeheartedly committed to working in partnership with independent travel agents in Northern Ireland and supporting them with everything they need. That strategy has clearly worked, and we are so proud and grateful that our partners have chosen us to win these awards. With travel unlocking and customer confidence rising all the time, we know our industry-leading approach will pay off when it comes to loyalty. The same applies for the brilliant independent travel agents out there, and we want them to know we will work just as hard to help them capitalise on the demand that is very much out there.”
Independent travel agents can visit: trade.jet2holidays.com
