NTIA ’17 marks AFTA 60th

SAT’S National Travel Industry Awards saw more than 1,400 attendees celebrate the best and brightest in travel, with the event held for the first time at the Int’l Convention Centre Sydney.

The 2017 NTIA also marked a “significant and proud milestone in the history of the organisation - 60 years of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents”.

Big winners included Helloworld Travel, which took out the Best Branded Travel Agency Group category, while Magellan won the Best Non-Branded group award.

Helloworld wholesale also did well, with Sunlover Holidays named Best Wholesaler - Australian Product and Qantas Holidays/Viva! Holidays winning the Best Wholesaler - International Product category.

South Australia’s Kingscote Travel, part of the Travellers Choice network, took out the People’s Choice: ATAS Travel Retail Travel Agency of the Year, while on the corporate side Spencer Travel won Best Travel Agency Corporate - Single Location once again.

Melbourne’s FBI Travel won the Best Travel Agency Retail - Single Location category, and Goldman Travel Corporation took out the Best Travel Agency Corporate - Multi Location category.

Youth operators dominated the tour operator categories, with Topdeck Travel winning Best Tour Operator - International and Contiki named Best Tour Operator - Domestic for 2017.

Finnair continued its long- running domination of the Best International Airline - Offline category, while Emirates also once again won for Best International Airline - Online.

Other winners included TripADeal for Best Online Travel Agency and Wendy Wu Tours as Best Specialty Wholesaler.

All the winners at afta.com.au.