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Travel gurus and travel brands gaining the most agent attention were honoured at OTT’s first PoP Awards

Agents with the destination knowledge to rival an atlas and brands with the most attention minutes were honoured at OTT’s very first PoP Awards.
The awards, presented by TV and radio personality Lisa Snowdon, took place yesterday (March 16) at Cavendish Conference Centre. In light of new travel restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak brought in while the event was in progress, the awards were also streamed on OTT’s Facebook page.
The event was sponsored by Icelandair, Gran Canaria Tourism Board, Force 24, Gibraltar, Cruise and Maritime Voyages, Royal Brunei, Belize Tourism with additional support from KA Network, Thomson & Scott, ANTOR, LATA, H10 and Travel Weekly.
Travel brands on the platform were celebrated with the most popular courses measured in minutes of attention in accordance with OTT’s data analytics. The courses measured real engagement of travel professionals with the winning courses.
The awards also honoured OTT’s winning gurus - agents who could demonstrate specialist knowledge within specific areas. These ranged from countries and regions to specialist sectors such as cruise and corporate bookers. Agents submitted their applications for OTT to demonstrate their insight into their specialist destinations, not only through the courses they had taken but from first hand experience such as attending fam trips and events. The winners were selected by a judging panel with a final shortlist of gurus announced.
OTT founder Julia Feuell said: “With the restrictions and cancellations announced in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, it’s more important than ever for travel professionals to have access to an online, flexible platform that they can use to stay up-to-date with the latest information from suppliers.”
“OTT launched the PoP Awards to honour hard-working agents who take the platform’s courses, investing their time to build their knowledge to better serve their customers.”
“We also honoured the winning brands which we measured by looking at attention minutes, which, for many suppliers was measured in tens of thousands of minutes. These incredible brand engagement statistics were created through regular updates and engagement with agents with updates of product news, competitions and incentives, customer emails and submissions of news to the OTT blog.”
The event crowned the gurus with specialist knowledge in the following areas:
Euro Specialist Guru
Jessica Flitter, COOP Travel – Radstock
Runners up: Agne Salne, Connor Skelsey
Latin American Specialist Guru
Kacileigh Tubman, Hays Travel
Corporate Consultant Guru
Simta Raval, American Express
Runners up: Sarah Nugent, Jonathan Taylor
Cruise Consultant Guru
Daniel Hammond, Go Cruise
Runners up: Claire Savvas, John Ferguson, Brendan O’Connor
North American Specialist Guru
Gary Hudson, A Small World
Leisure Consultant Guru
Martine MacDonald
Runners up: Jannat Arif, Laura Sterritt
Tour Operator Guru
Karen Slater, Inspire Me Travel Company
Australasian Specialist Guru
Kenny MacDonald, Flight Centre
Runners up: Teena Francis, Scott Pritchard
Travel Booker Guru
Darren Long, Corporate Traveller
Runners up: John Ore, Alice Dan, Dipak Sheth, Eirini Karypi, James Oliver
OTT’s most popular travel brands in 2019 according to site analytics:
Most Popular Cruise Company
Hurtigruten
Runners up: Cruise and Maritime, A-Rosa
Most Popular Tour Operator
Winner: James Villas
Runner up: Funway
Most Popular Attraction
Winner: Kennedy Space Center
Runners up: Seaworld, Pirates
Most Popular Accommodation
Winner: James Villas
Runners up: Iberostar, Atlantis The Palm
Most Popular Airline
Winner: United Airlines
Runners up: Air Canada, Delta Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines
Most Popular Destination
Winner: Gran Canaria
Runners up: Singapore, Austrian Cities, Corsica, Antigua and Barbuda
Most Popular International Course
Winner: Visit Denmark - USA
Runners up: United Airlines – Australia, England’s Coasts – Germany
Most Popular UK Course
Winner: Hurtigruten
Runners up: Gran Canaria. United Airlines, James Villas, Japan Airlines
Missed OTT’s PoP Awards? Watch now at https://bit.ly/2Ql29XW