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World Travel Awards – the leading authority that recognises and rewards excellence in travel and tourism – has unveiled the 2021 winners of its World categories.
Dubai, currently flourishing in the spotlight as host of Expo 2020, was voted ‘World’s Leading Business Travel Destination’ with Dubai World Trade Centre claiming ‘World’s Leading Meetings & Conference Centre’. Mina Rashid was acknowledged as ‘World’s Leading Cruise Port’, and The Palm Jumeirah – Nakheel took ‘World’s Leading Tourism Development Project’.
Russia’s imperial splendour was recognised with both Moscow and Saint Petersburg winning top honours. Moscow was voted ‘World’s Leading City Break Destination’ and ‘World’s Leading Heritage City Destination’, whilst Saint Petersburg collected ‘World’s Leading Cultural City Destination’, ‘World’s Leading Cultural City Destination’ and ‘World’s Leading Marketing Campaign’.
The ancient citadel of Machu Picchu was hailed ‘World’s Leading Tourist Attraction’, with Peru also collecting ‘World’s Leading Cultural Destination’.
In the hospitality sector, Armani Hotel Dubai fended off a tough field to emerge as ‘World’s Leading Hotel’, whilst Sardinia’s Forte Village Resort took ‘World’s Leading Resort’. The blissfully remote Amanpulo, Philippines was named ‘World’s Leading Dive Resort’, whilst its Aman Resorts stablemate Amandari, Indonesia picked up ‘World’s Leading Boutique All Suite Hotel’. Dubai’s Burj al Arab was voted ‘World’s Leading Luxury All Suite Hotel’ and Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach voted ‘World’s Leading Luxury Resort’.
In the newcomer categories, The St. Regis Dubai, The Palm secured ‘World’s Leading New Hotel’, whilst the barefoot chic paradise Raffles The Palm Dubai picked up ‘World’s Leading New Resort’.
Brand winners include InterContinental Hotels & Resorts (‘World’s Leading Hotel Brand’), Sandals (‘World’s Leading All-Inclusive Company’), Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts (‘World’s Leading Resort Brand’), and The Ascott Limited Hospitality (‘World’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand’).
In the aviation sector, Emirates lifted ‘World’s Leading Airline’ and ‘World’s Leading Airline – First Class’, whilst ‘World’s Leading Airport’ went to Dubai International Airport. Etihad Airways was voted ‘World’s Leading Airline – Business Class’, with Singapore Airlines named ‘World’s Leading Airline – Economy Class’. Aeroflot – Russian Airlines was voted ‘World’s Leading Airline Brand’, whilst Star Alliance took ‘World’s Leading Airline Alliance’.
The results follow a year-long search for the world’s top travel, tourism and hospitality brands. Votes were cast by travel industry professionals and the public, with the nominee gaining the most votes in a category named as the winner.
Graham Cooke, Founder, World Travel Awards, says: “Our World winners represent the best in global travel and tourism and my congratulations to each of them. They are all playing starring roles in leading the global travel and tourism recovery.”
Jamaica enjoyed a hat trick of destination awards (‘World’s Leading Cruise Destination’, ‘World’s Leading Family Destination’ and ‘World’s Leading Wedding Destination’).
The fast-growing aviation company Jetex took ‘World’s Leading FBO Brand’ and ‘World’s Leading Private Jet Travel Experience’, with Jetex Singapore named ‘World’s Leading FBO Terminal’.
Other winners include Madrid (‘World’s Leading Meetings & Conference Destination’); Royal Caribbean International (‘World’s Leading Cruise Brand’);
Atlantis, The Palm (‘World’s Leading Landmark Resort’); Aquaventure Waterpark at Atlantis The Palm, Dubai (‘World’s Leading Water Park’); Royal Penthouse @ Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai (‘World’s Leading Hotel Penthouse’).
For a full list of winners visit here.
For more information about World Travel Awards, visit worldtravelawards.com.
WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the WTA brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. Each year, WTA covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region. WTA gala ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders, luminaries and international print and broadcast media. For more information about WTA visit worldtravelawards.com
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LONDON (Reuters) -The British government will remove all 11 countries from its COVID-19 travel red list from Wednesday because there is now community transmission of Omicron in Britain, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told parliament.
The new Omicron variant was first detected in southern Africa and Hong Kong. The British government added 11 African countries to its red list from late November, meaning that only UK citizens or residents arriving from those nations were allowed in and then had to quarantine in a hotel.
“Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad,” Javid said.
“We will be removing all 11 countries from the travel red list effective from 4 a.m. tomorrow morning.”
The 11 countries which will be removed are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Britain has registered more than 4,700 cases of Omicron, with 10 people hospitalised, and one person has died after contracting the variant. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday Britain was facing a “huge spike” in Omicron cases.
Travel companies had urged the government to reduce restrictions as soon as possible. London’s Heathrow Airport said last week it was seeing high levels of business travellers cancelling due to concerns over restrictions.
Britain will still require all inbound travellers to take either a PCR or a rapid lateral flow test a maximum of 48 hours before departure, a measure Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said would be reviewed in the first week of January.
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of travel association ABTA, welcomed the removal of the red list but said testing should also have been scrapped.
“With the testing measures now extending over the Christmas and New Year period, and the industry quickly approaching peak-booking season for summer 2022, travel businesses are facing a very serious situation,” he said in a statement.
“Consumer confidence in travel has suffered a significant setback, which will outlast these restrictions.”
Arrivals from the red list countries have had to pay thousands of pounds to quarantine in government-approved hotels. Many have complained on social media about the costs and conditions of their stay.
A lack of available rooms also left some people trapped abroad waiting for space to become available in the hotels.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and Elizabeth Piper; editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Paul Sandle and Gareth Jones)
Copyright 2021 Thomson Reuters.