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