The worldwide winners of this year's World Travel Awards
The full list of winners of the World Travel Awards which I mentioned in an earlier post have now been published on their site. The worldwide winners (as opposed to those winners for specific continents, regions or categories) are as follows:
World’s Leading Airline – British Airways
World’s Leading Airline – Alliance Oneworld
World’s Leading Airline Inflight Meal Service – Qatar Airways
World’s Leading Airport – Singapore Changi Airport
World’s Leading Airport Lounge – Virgin Atlantic Airways
World’s Leading All Suite Hotel & Spa Hotel – Les Ottomans
World’s Leading All-Inclusive Company – Sandals Resorts International
World’s Leading All-Suite Hotel – The Oberoi Sahl Hasheesh
World’s Leading Attraction – Pyramids, Egypt
World’s Leading Beach – Grace Bay Beach (Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands)
World’s Leading Beach Resort – Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa, Dubai
World’s Leading Boutique Hotel – Saxon Boutique Hotel & Spa, South Africa
World’s Leading Boutique Resort – Vila Joya
World’s Leading Budget / No Frills Airline – Air Berlin
World’s Leading Business Car Rental Company – Avis
World’s Leading Business Class Airline – Qatar Airways
World’s Leading Business Class Only Airline – EOS Airlines
World’s Leading Business Hotel – Pan Pacific Singapore
World’s Leading Casino Resort – Genting Highland Resort, Malaysia
World’s Leading Charter Airline – XL Airways
World’s Leading Chauffeur Limousine Company – Brunel Carriage
World’s Leading Conference & Convention Centre – Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin (ICC Berlin), Germany
World’s Leading Conference Hotel – Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
World’s Leading Conservation Company – Shamwari Game Reserve
World’s Leading Credit Card – Visa
World’s Leading Cruise Brand – Carnival Corporation
World’s Leading Cruise Destination – Jamaica
World’s Leading Cruise Line – Royal Caribbean International
World’s Leading Cruise Operator – Star Clippers
World’s Leading Design Hotel – Adam & Eve at Belek, Turkey
World’s Leading Destination – London, England
World’s Leading Destination Marketing Campaign – Incredible India
World’s Leading Dive Destination – Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
World’s Leading Diving Resort – The Royal Savoy Sharm El Sheikh
World’s Leading Economy Class – American Airlines
World’s Leading Exhibition Centre – Dubai World Trade Centre
World’s Leading Family All-Inclusive – Beaches Resorts
World’s Leading Family Luxury Resort – Madinat Jumeirah
World’s Leading Family Resort – Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort & Spa
World’s Leading Ferry Operator – P&O Ferries
World’s Leading First Class Airline – Cathay Pacific Airways
World’s Leading Flat Bed Seat – Etihad Airways
World’s Leading Golf Resort – Casa de Campo
World’s Leading Heritage Hotel – The Raj Palace
World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination – St. Lucia
World’s Leading Hotel – Burj Al Arab, Dubai
World’s Leading Hotel Brand – Marriott Hotels Resorts & Suites
World’s Leading Hotel Serviced Apartment – The Grosvenor House Dubai
World’s Leading Leisure Car Rental Company – Europcar
World’s Leading Luxury Cruise Line – Silversea Cruises
World’s Leading Luxury Hotel Brand – Jumeirah
World’s Leading Luxury Specialist Tour Operator – ITC Classics
World’s Leading Luxury Train – Pride of Africa – Rovos Rail
World’s Leading New Airline – Oasis Hong Kong Airlines
World’s Leading New Destination – Abu Dhabi
World’s Leading New Resort – The Venetian Macau
World’s Leading Private Jet Charter – Royal Jet Group
World’s Leading Rail Service – Eurostar
World’s Leading Resort – Forte Village Resort, Italy
World’s Leading Safari & Game Reserve – Shamwari Game Reserve
World’s Leading Ski Destination – St. Moritz
World’s Leading Ski Resort – The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
World’s Leading Spa Resort – Aldemar Olympian Village, Greece
World’s Leading Sports Resort – Casa de Campo
World’s Leading Suite – Palace Suite, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
World’s Leading Thalasso & Spa Resort – Aldemar Royal Mare Village
World’s Leading Theme Park/Attraction – Disney World, Florida
World’s Leading Tour Operator – Kuoni
World’s Leading Tourism Development Project – Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC)
World’s Leading Tourism Property Development Company – Nakheel
World’s Leading Tourist & Convention Bureau Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc. (Orlando CVB)
World’s Leading Tourist Information Website – South African Tourism www.southafrica.net
World’s Leading Travel Agency – Regency Travel & Tours, Qatar
World’s Leading Travel Company – Carlson-Wagonlit
World’s Leading Travel Destination Television Commercial – One Northeast, England
World’s Leading Travel Exhibition – ITB, Berlin
World’s Leading Travel Experience by Train – Vancouver – Banff, GoldLeaf Service, Rocky Mountaineer Vacations, Canada
World’s Leading Travel Television Commercial – Etihad Airways
World’s Leading TV Channel for Travellers – BBC World
World’s Leading Villa – Round Hill Hotel & Villas
World’s Most Romantic Destination – Maldives
World’s Most Romantic Resort – Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa
A very big ‘well done’ to all of the above!
This is a great list, thanks for posting! I really like this blog too, good job.
Imagine if every Winner had to give an acceptance Speech, The awards ceremony would take days!
Some Good Worthy winners.
Hi both of you… thanks for dropping by with your comments. I’d like to see the comments part of the blog getting a little more active in 2008, so I really appreciate you taking a moment to scribble a few words!
When you consider that these are only the world awards (there’s also 10 regional categories, as well as categories for ‘green’ and ‘travel technology’), it’s a little hard to digest such a mass of awards, isn’t it?!
Paul
Sorry, but I don’t like this list at all, for several reasons.
How on earth did British Airways win the World’s Leading Airlines award? In my experience of BA, which is fairly extensive – and even includes First Class flights (not many!) – I have rarely enjoyed a flight with them. They are expensive and I feel sure that they send their staff to a special school to teach them how to be rude to passengers. BA gets two thumbs down from me.
My best experiences of airlines have been with Emirates and Virgin.
World’s Leading Attraction – the pyramids. Bah! There are so many touts there pestering tourists that it can be an extremely unpleasant experience.
I would say that there are other impressive attractions where you can enjoy a more comfortable and enjoyable day out. Angkor Wat in Cambodia springs first to my mind.
I suspect it won’t please you to hear, Kay, that BA also won the award in both 2006 and 2007!
It doesn’t surprise me, though.
However, there is one great thing about BA being expensive. In my husband’s previous life, working for HMG, BA was used as the ‘marker’. Thus if you needed to get from A to B they calculated the fare based on BA Business Class. Yippee!
With that budget, we travelled from London to Delhi with Virgin. We’d booked Premium Economy but they gave us a free upgrade to Upper Class. Wow! That was nice. And then with all the money we’d saved we had several nice little holidays (from Delhi) to Thailand too.