The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) in partnership with the Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO) today revealed an exciting new addition to the travel industry’s ‘night of nights’.
The 2019 AFTA National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) will launch the inaugural CATO Awards. The Awards will be held as a dedicated segment within the AFTA NTIA Gala Dinner to recognise and reward front line travel consultants across four categories.
The CATO Award categories will be promoted alongside the NTIA categories and be included in the NTIA promotional and judging processes. There will be no voting for any of the CATO categories – all winners will be determined via the same two-step submission and judging process used by AFTA to ethically and fairly determine winners.
Globus, G-Adventures, Intrepid and The Travel Corporation will be the inaugural sponsors of The CATO Awards with the four high profile brands coming together in a group sponsorship, demonstrating the renewed collaborative focus of the land-supply sector.
The four award categories are;
- Consultant of the Year – Group Touring
- Consultant of the Year – Adventure
- Consultant of the Year – Ski
- Consultant of the Year – Independent Travel
“AFTA and CATO have been united in service to the travel industry for well over a decade. This union to enhance the NTIA program, call out travel professionals working with CATO members all within the high standard set by NTIA is yet another fantastic celebration of the Australian Travel Industry,” said Jayson Westbury, AFTA Chief Executive.
“CATO’s involvement at NTIA delivers an opportunity for us to highlight the significant value of the land-supply sector to a very engaged trade audience. This is the travel industries night of nights and we look forward to being an integral part of the event,” said Brett Jardine, CATO Managing Director.
The 2019 AFTA National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) will be held on Saturday 20 July 2019 in the Grand Ballroom at the International Convention Centre, Sydney.
2019 NTIA Key Dates;
- Nominations Open - Monday 21 January 2019
- Category Nomination Submissions due – Friday 15 March 2019 (Selected categories)
- Nominees Announced - Monday 25 March 2019
- Voting Opens - Tuesday 26 March 2019
- Finalists Announced - Monday 20 May 2019
- Ticket Sales – Tuesday 21 May 2019
- Judging Period – Wednesday 12 June to Friday 21 June 2019 (Judged categories only)
- Gala Dinner - Saturday 20 July 2019
