Tucan Travel takes silver in British Travel Awards

Independent adventure tour operator Tucan Travel took the silver prize in the Best Tour Operator to South and Central America against stiff competition at the prestigious British Travel Awards.

Widely held to be the ‘Oscars’ of the UK travel industry, tens of thousands of voters took part in the open voting this year, including travellers, agents and other industry partners. This is the first year silver awards have been awarded to nominees. The British Travel Awards were unveiled at a glittering event compeered by ‘Mock the Week’ comedian Frankie.

Managing director Matt Gannan said the prize was a great result for Tucan Travel and was a reflection of the company’s growing success. “We are proud to be recognised by one of the most prestigious awards in the industry. We started running tours in Central and South America more than 21 years ago. We have since become a worldwide operator, but our roots are firmly in Latin America and this award celebrates our passion and commitment for that region. Not only does it recognise our popularity among the travelling public and travel agents, but considering the strong competition we were up against in this category, it confirms that we are firmly established as a major tour operator in the UK travel industry.”

Mr Gannan said congratulations were due to the winner of the category, luxury Swiss tour operator Kuoni Travel Ltd. “Kuoni employs over 7,500 staff in 300 offices around the world, and they do their job very well. Tucan Travel employs just a fraction of that workforce, so this silver prize is a good indication to me of how high we’re punching above our weight.”

“The award could not come at a better time for us as we have just launched our new worldwide brochure for 2009-10, with 450 group tours and independent travel packages to 77 countries around the world. We hope that travellers and agents will be encouraged to take a closer look at our worldwide products and choose a holiday with us as a result of the award.”

Mr Gannan added that the adventure travel industry was traditionally resilient to economic instability, and he was cautiously optimistic for the future, despite the downturn in the economy. “There’s no doubt that we’re heading for a recession and there are going to be tough times ahead for the travel industry. Having said that, we seem to be bucking the trend. We have just had our biggest October ever, with sales up 22% year on year. It may be that people who would once have chosen to travel with luxury operators are beginning to look at adventure travel holidays as an affordable alternative.”

For more information, log on to Tucantravel.com.