 Press Release: Dubai - 1st October 2013
The Travel Marketing Personality of The Year
Martin Craigs, CEO of The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), has been awarded The Travel Marketing Personality of the Year by The Travel Marketing Store.
Martin shared this Travel Marketing Excellence Award with next generation travel marketers such as Facebook and Tourism Australia.
In 2012 this award was presented to Boutros Boutros, Divisional Senior Vice President Corporate Communications at The Emirates Group. The Awards Ceremony took place in Dubai on 25th September at the Global Travel Marketing Forum, an emerging annual Focal Point for Travel Marketing practitioners.
Duncan Alexander, Director of The Travel Marketing Store commented, "many of us have watched Martin with admiration as he has tirelessly driven forward the new PATA agenda for all travel and tourism stakeholders to, from and within Asia".
Martin has been proactive on aligned advocacy on a global basis and with the Global Travel and Tourism Association Coalition (GTTAC), key partners The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the International Air Transport Association ( IATA), Airport Council International (ACI) and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
During his first two years at PATA he has re-launched the association under a "Next Gen" banner and refocused resources on advocating to governments the full value of "The Compete Visitor Economy". PATA's 800+ members, public and private, large and small, now receive aggregated on-line research via PATA mPOWER plus a wider range of innovative events.
Martin, on receiving the awarded, stated, "I am surprised and flattered to receive this prestigious award in a city that is an icon for innovative travel offerings. A sincere thank you on behalf of our revitalized Association that has moved the Travel and Tourism agenda forward in and around Asia Pacific for over 60 years. This is a ringing endorsement for our Executive Board, management team and staff who have worked hard in my first two years at PATA as business builders for the sustainable development of our increasingly respected industry sector".
At the Awards Ceremony four other awards were given to Skift, SkyTECH, Tourism Australia and Facebook.
Excellence in Travel Marketing Science: Skift
Skift, a year  old travel news portal, was recognised for "Excellence in Travel Marketing Science" and specifically for their approach to create rankings of travel organisations in terms of their social media activity. Rafat Ali, CEO Skift, commented "we are delighted to receive our first ever award. Skift Social was our first data product and we will soon be re-launching this under a new brand name Skift IQ which will focus on a range of digital metrics".
Within one year Skift has become the largest business to business travel news site in the United States and is aiming to achieve that position globally.
 | | Rafat Ali from Skift |
Excellence in Travel Marketing Technology: SkyTECH Solutions
SkyTECH Solutions were presented with the award for "Travel Marketing Excellence i n Travel Technology".
Duncan Alexander stated "SkyTECH have been a great case study in what we are trying to achieve at The Travel Marketing Store. They came to our launch event last year as a little known brand but ready to engage and seek new business. Their focus on delivering to customer needs secured them a number of their first ever contracts in The Middle East, some of which originated at our first event".
SkyTECH Solutions is a leading technology services and solutions provider globally with focus on the travel, logistics and hospitality segment. Having proven its excellence in the global marketplace, it forayed into the GCC region in the last 8-10 months and within this short time-frame has established credibility and credentials as a value-added IT partner. Their recent client acquisitions in Dubai include a chartered aircraft management company serving high net worth clients across the region as well as a leading low cost airline in the region. They are providing end to end application development & management services as well as focussed solutions in mobile enablement of enterprise applications and services.
Arpan Majumder, Head of Sales & Marketing ASPAC & EMEA, commented "SkyTECH's journey in the GCC region started around the similar timeframe as The Travel Marketing Store and it's been a great year. SkyTECH and the wider TCG IT family would like to thank you for providing us the opportunity to be a part of your story and for the pleasant surprise in awarding us the best technology company for travel marketing".
Excellence in Travel Marketing Artistry: Tourism Australia
The third award for "Travel Marketing Artistry" went to Tourism Australia and recognised their wonderfully imaginative and captivating campaign "The Best Jobs in The World".
This new campaign built on the 2009 Queensland Tourism & Events Department's promotion that saw Ben Southall, from the United Kingdom, become the caretaker for six months of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef. The 2013 campaign involved a search for six candidates to fill exciting roles across Australia. A fully integrated marketing campaign received an enormous response with over 330,000 applications from 196 countries.
 | | Tourism Australia Best Jobs |
Excellence in Travel Marketing Relationships: Facebook
The final award for "Excellence in Travel Marketing Relationships" went to Facebook. Duncan Alexander commented "Facebook's emergence as the world's leading social networking platform has been remarkable. What is equally impressive are their recent efforts to engage with Travel Brands to enable them to use their channel as an effective promotional tool. The Global Travel Marketing Forum  highlighted a number of their B2B projects including the excellent Best Western Case Study whose Facebook campaign resulted in an impressive 20% increase in year on year sales".
Walid Driss, Client Partner looking after the Travel and Tourism vertical among other industries across MENA, Facebook Dubai stated, "We have been pleased by our participation in the event and we are looking with close interest at The Global Travel Marketing Forum as an emerging platform bringing together key decision-makers and influencers in the industry to drive forward the travel and tourism ecosystem in the region.
We just started providing support to the forward-leaning players in the region and we are looking forward to drive results with our key partners. At Facebook Dubai we didn't expect to receive such an award at this stage as this is only the beginning and it's a journey 1% finished"
 | | Facebook Case Study Best Western |
ENDS
About The Global Travel Marketing Forum:
Now into second year The Global Travel Marketing Forum is an annual conference based in Dubai that brings together Travel Marketing thought leaders into a conference speaking/panel environment. Hot travel marketing topics, new market insights and predictions are reviewed and debated. Some of the best travel marketing case studies are presented.
The conference provides a platform for travel marketing suppliers to promote themselves through sponsorships, presentations and dedicated meetings with buyers. Buyers make new discoveries, learn about best practice and improve procurement processes.
The Forum includes an Awards Ceremony that recognises the best in class travel marketing suppliers and celebrates the efforts of The Travel Marketing Personality of the Year.
About The Travel Marketing Store:
The Travel Marketing Store provides travel marketing advisory services with a focus on creating travel marketing strategies.
We also organise travel marketing events and publish a travel marketing directory of suppliers. We have expertise in areas that are shaping our industry such as the impact of social marketing in travel, big data analytics, new technologies and channels of distribution. Our advisory services assist those involved in Travel and Tourism to develop living marketing strategies that provide structure in a fast changing environment.
Contacts info@thetravelmarketingstore.com
+971509508041
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