30 pictures: Northern Ireland Travel & Tourism Awards reveal the winners at star-studded event

The Jet2.com and Jet2holidays team were also big winners on the evening, taking home four awards with Jet2.com picking up the award for Best Airline to Europe 2024 and Jet2holidays collecting the awards for Best Travel Internet Booking System 2024, Best Tour Operator to Europe 2024 and Best Sales Support Team to NI Travel Trade 2024.

Local travel operator Travel Solutions picked up the award for Best Ski Operator 2024, while Robert Wilson picked up the award for NI Travel Trade Manager/ Representative of the Year 2024 – the second year in a row he has claimed the title.

The McKeever Hotel Group, whose portfolio includes The Dunadry Hotel and Gardens, Corr’s Corner Hotel, the Dunsilly Hotel, Dillons Hotel, the Adair Arms Hotel and the Lodge Hotel Coleraine, were awarded the NI Tourism Industry Award 2024 while Ciaran O’Neill was awarded the NI Special Achievement Award 2024.

With a career spanning over 35 years in the hospitality sector, Ciaran is the managing director at the Bishop’s Gate Hotel, Londonderry and has sat on the Board of Visit Derry for over a decade. His 14-year tenure on the Board of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation culminated in his role as President in 2016 while his commitment to nurturing future talent in the tourism sector is shown through his role as Chair of the Hospitality and Tourism Skills Network (HATs).

Meanwhile, the McKeever Hotel Group is a truly family affair that started out with a dream. A young man working as a chef from a very young age keen to learn and strive to grow. Roll forward to today and we have seen the company expand, moving into hotels, through both construction and acquisition. During their remarkable 50 years journey, the group have shown strong principles of forward thinking and continued growth, all the while giving back to the industry through service on local boards, contributing to sectoral bodies and supporting their people.

This year’s Travel Student of the Year was Saffron Montgomery from the Belfast Metropolitan College while this year’s Travel Consultant of the Year was Cara Morgan from Terra Travel.

There was stiff competition for this year’s Travel Consultant of the Year award, while all this year’s student nominees were extremely talented and showed excellent promise for their future careers in the travel and tourism industries.

Another notable win at this year’s awards is Nicola Allison who, for the past five years has spearheaded the growth of the largest travel agency in Northern Ireland. Following the demise of Thomas Cook in 2019, she led her team through the transition to the Hays brand and now has 24 branches under her Regional Manager role, adding 3 new branches in the last few years. Her Northern Ireland region just recently achieved the status of number 1 region in the Hays network, a truly terrific achievement.

This year the prestigious Northern Ireland Travel Industry Award went to Jill Russell. Jill has been an integral member of the Northern Ireland Travel industry for almost 40 years and a friend to all parts of the trade. Starting her career in 1984 with the English based school travel company Hormone Ski partners, over the next 12 years Jill built her reputation and a close network of colleagues. Following their buy-out by a multi-national, Jill couldn’t resist the offer to join one of Ireland’s most respected travel companies, Topflight. Jill is widely respected across all schools in Northern Ireland and the opportunity she has given to thousands of children across the country, she is a colleague and friend to everyone. Jill, who has been with Topflight for Schools for over 29 years, announced her retirement this year.

This year’s Awards ceremony was hosted by local comedy husband and wife duo Diona Doherty and Sean Hegarty. Diona has starred in several hit TV shows including Derry Girls, Give My Head Peace and The Blame Game while Sean is easily recognisable from Britain’s Got Talent, Stand Up from the Sunflower and as the author of ‘Let me tell you a joke’ a new kids joke book released this year.

The awards are only made possible with the continued support of the generous sponsors.

This year’s celebrations kicked off with a Champagne drinks reception, hosted by Dublin Airport where guests were welcomed by a ceremonial piper, courtesy of Loganair.

Hospitality was sponsored by Tourism Ireland with a fantastic ‘A Taste of Ireland’ menu while the wine was sponsored by Salou Tourism.

This year’s Awards entertainment was a Peter Corry production called The Greatest Show.

Stena Line once again presented every guest with a fantastic gift – every attendee on the evening received a voucher for a car and two passengers on any of Stena Line’s Irish Sea.

Later in the evening, The Bourbon Street Band took to the main stage, while DJ Nathan entertained guests into the wee hours in the bar. The evening’s entertainment (and the late night pizzas) were provided by Jet2holidays.

This year’s charity was the Motor Neurone Disease Association. This charity does fantastic work for individuals, families and those affected by the disease. All monies raised on the evening of the NI Travel & Tourism Awards will go directly to the charity to support the work they do.

Stena Line, Travel Solutions, Yalago, Silversea Cruises and British Airways all returned as category sponsors for this year with the new addition of Visit Dubai as our brand new category sponsor.

The Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards are organised by Northern Ireland Travel News who also sponsored the highly coveted Travel Agent of the Year Award.

This year the Travel Student of the Year award was sponsored by Bookit by NI Travel News.

Oasis Travel have previously claimed the title of Travel Agent of the Year in 1993, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2021.

They added: “Massive congratulations to our head office branch in Lisburn who just went and scooped the prestigious NI Travel agent of the year award – so fitting considering Oasis Travel are celebrating 40 years in travel this year. Well done again to all the team from your colleagues here on the Lisburn Road!!”

The Winners in full:

Best Tourist Information Centre 2024 – Visit Belfast Visitor Information Centre Best NI Visitor Attraction 2024 – Titanic Belfast NI Tourism Industry Award 2024 – McKeever Hotels NI Special Achievement Award 2024 – Ciaran O’Neill NI Travel Student of the Year 2024 – Saffron Montgomery Best Luxury Cruise Company 2024 – Silversea Cruises Best River Cruise Company 2024 – Riviera Cruises Best Premium Cruise Company 2024 – Celebrity Cruises Best Mainstream Cruise Company 2024 – Royal Caribbean International Best Tourist Board Award 2024 – Spanish Tourism Office Best Holiday Add-Ons or Car Hire Provider 2024 – Do Something Different Best UK Airline 2024 – easyJet Best Airline to Europe 2024 – Jet2.com Best Airline Worldwide 2024 – Emirates Best Escorted Tours Operator 2024 – Newmarket Holidays NI Travel Trade Manager/ Representative of the Year 2024 – Robert Wilson Best Accommodation Only Specialist 2024 – STUBA Best Ferry Company 2024 – Stena Line Best Ski Operator 2024 – Travel Solutions Best Travel Internet Booking System 2024 – Jet2holidays Best Worldwide Tour Operator 2024 – If Only… Best Specialist Tour Operator 2024 – Beachcomber Tours Best Luxury Operator 2024 – If Only … Best Hotel Group 2024 – Iberostar Hotel Group Best Tour Operator to Europe 2024 – Jet2holidays NI Travel Industry Award 2024 – Nicola Allison Best Sales Support Team to NI Travel Trade 2024 – Jet2holidays NI Travel Consultant of the Year 2024 – Cara Morgan NI Travel & Tourism Industry’s Roll of Honour – Jill Russell Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year 2024 – Oasis Travel