Tourvest leads industry winners
Tourvest was the biggest winner at the fifth annual Business Traveller Africa Conference & Awards, with three of the South African travel group’s brands winning the categories they were nominated in.
The Business Traveller Africa Conference & Awards took place at The Maslow Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg on the 1
st of September.
Kicking off a successful morning for Tourvest, American Express Foreign Exchange was named the ‘Best Forex Supplier’, and that was followed by African Hotels & Adventures winning the ‘Best South African Hotel Group’ category and the Tourvest Travel Services sales team being named the ‘Best Travel Sales Team’.
The other multiple winners on the day were South African Airways and Emirates.
SAA was named ‘Best African Regional Short-Haul Airline’ and ‘Best African Long-Haul Airline’, whilst Emirates claimed the ‘Best International Long-Haul Airline’ and ‘Best Business Class’ awards.
There was a ‘changing of the guard’ in the car rental and large conference venue categories, with Europcar and Cape Town International Convention Centre ending the long-standing successful runs of Avis and Sandton Convention Centre, respectively.
The same could be said of AHA unseating Tsogo Sun in the ‘Best South African Hotel Group’ category and Carlson Wagonlit ending the reign of HRG Rennies Travel in the ‘Best Travel Management Company’ category, whilst Comair Flight Services became the first aviation company to win the ‘Best Private Aviation Operator’ award, other than ExecuJet, since the inception of the awards.
Launched in 2012 in association with
Business Traveller Africa magazine, the awards ceremony is an event for the South African business travel trade.
Business Traveller Africa magazine and Future Group once again engaged South Africa’s travel agents – through their association with event partner ASATA (Association of Southern African Travel Agents) – and the African Business Travel Association’s (ABTA) corporate travel buyers, in an attempt to source the most credible winners of the awards.
The organisers also partnered with SAACI, the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry, for the first time, tasking SAACI’s members with selecting the winners in the four conference categories.
The 2016 Business Traveller Africa Conference & Awards also featured a strong line-up of relevant industry-related content, with the keynote address delivered by millennial ‘influencer’ Arye Kellman, who provided fascinating insight into the next generation of business travellers. That was followed by two engaging panel discussions, with the first focusing on the sharing economy and its presence in the business travel space, with contributions from Facebook’s Aidan Baigrie and Tinashe Ruzane from Uber. The second looked at the travel technology space and what the future holds, and featured Robyn Christie of Travelport, Andy Hedly of Amadeus, and Ed Frost from British Airways.
The Business Traveller Africa Conference & Awards was hosted by the Future Group, in association with Absa and corporate partners ABTA, Amadeus, ASATA, British Airways, ExecuJet, SAACI, SA Tourism, Travelport, and display partners Avis, Comair Flight Services and Reunion Tourism.
Full list of nominees and winners (in alphabetical order):
African Long-Haul Airline
Air Mauritius
Air Namibia
Ethiopian Airlines
Kenya Airways
SAA
(winner)
African Low-Cost Airline
FlySafair
Kulula
(winner)
Mango
African Regional Short-Haul Airline
Airlink
Comair (BA & Kulula)
Mango
SAA
(winner)
SA Express
Airport Business Lounge
Emirates (ORTIA – International)
SAA Baobab (ORTIA – International)
SLOW Lounge (ORTIA – Domestic)
SLOW Lounge (ORTIA – International)
(winner)
Virgin Atlantic (ORTIA – International)
Business Class
British Airways
Emirates
(winner)
Etihad
Qatar Airways
Virgin Atlantic
Business Hotel in SA
African Pride Crystal Towers
African Pride Melrose Arch
The Maslow Hotel
(winner)
The Westin Cape Town
Car Rental Company
Avis
Bidvest Car Rental
Europcar
(winner)
First Car Rental
Hertz
Forex Supplier
American Express Foreign Exchange
(winner)
American Express Global Card
Bidvest Bank
Global Distribution System
Amadeus
(winner)
Sabre
Travelport
International Hotel Group
Four Seasons
Hilton
Hyatt
Marriott
(winner)
Starwood
International Long-Haul Airline
British Airways
Emirates
(winner)
Lufthansa
Qatar Airways
Virgin Atlantic
Large Conference Venue
Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre
Cape Town International Convention Centre
(winner)
Century City Conference Centre
International Convention Centre Durban
Sandton Convention Centre
Large Hotel Conference Venue
Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre
Century City Conference Centre
Indaba Hotel & Conference Centre
The Westin Cape Town
(winner)
Luxury Hotel in SA
Michelangelo Hotel
One&Only Cape Town
The Oyster Box
(winner)
The Palazzo Hotel
Twelve Apostles
Private Aviation Operator
Comair Flight Services
(winner)
ExecuJet
Federal Air
NAC
Small Conference Venue
FNB Conference Centre
The Forum Campus
(winner)
The Forum Turbine Hall
Small Hotel Conference Venue
African Pride Melrose Arch
Sandton Lodge Rivonia
Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa
(winner)
South African Hotel Group
AHA
(winner)
City Lodge Hotels
Legacy Hotels & Resorts
Sun International
Tsogo Sun
Travel Credit Card Provider
American Express
(winner)
Diners Club
MasterCard
Visa
Travel Management Company
American Express Travel Services
BCD Travel
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
(winner)
HRG Rennies Travel
Travel with Flair
Travel Sales Team
Europcar
Thompsons Travel
Tourvest Travel Services
(winner)
Visa Service Provider
MDS VisaPak
Visas & Passports Unlimited
Visas Direct
Visa Express
Visas International
(winner)
