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 This year saw ten new awards for business and ten for first class air travel, split by region. There were also 20 new business hotel categories, expanded to include major commercial cities across the globe.
Trophies for the awards were given out at a gala ceremony at London's Royal Opera House, which was broadcast globally by BBC World, Discovery Channel and the Arab Travel Channel, as well as other media outlets across the globe. It was a night to remember as the 500 guests enjoyed the presence of TV personalities Ruby Wax and Maureen Lipman, as well as performances by Cirque de Soleil and London's West End smash hit musical 'Dancin' in the Street.'
On the evening, trophies were well received by British Airways, which was voted 'World's Leading Airline,' the city of London , which grabbed 'World's Leading Destination, while the Burj al Arab in Dubai picked up 'World's Leading Hotel.'
On the African front, South Africa was the big winner. The South Africans walked away with awards for best airline, best casino, and best safari amongst others. The award of Nigeria 's Leading Hotel went to Sheraton Lagos.
World's leading travel experience
This year if you are looking for the world's leading travel experience, you are likely to have had a conference at the Emirates Palace , Abu Dhabi , taken a flight from Dubai International Airport , traveling first class on British Airways. Having had an in-flight meal on Qatar Airways, while using Virgin Atlantic's in-flight entertainment you would have landed in London spent a night at the Baglioni Hotel organized by American Express Travel purchased with your Visa card before cruising on the QM2 for a honeymoon in Barbados .
'this is what the travel industry has voted for in various categories and are just some of the results of this year's World Travel Awards. The conclusions were drawn from a survey of 156.000 travel agents and professionals from 140 Countries worldwide were carried out.
'The survey is truly global in scale, independent and accountable,' says Graham Cooke, president of the World Travel Awards.
'With a growing number of travel award ceremonies in the marketplace, we are still the most comprehensive travel survey out there, with global coverage.'
The World Travel Awards
Voting started in May of this year and ended in September. During this five month period 3,500 different nominations competed, with more than two million individual voting decisions completed, returned and processed using the online voting form.
The World Travel Awards accounts for all sectors of the global travel industry, with over 80 winners alone for the 'World's Leading Travel' category.
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