The 2020 Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards have been postponed until 2021 to allow agencies and suppliers to fully focus on the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.
The AAAs have celebrated excellence in the travel trade for the past 24 years and are regarded as the highest honour in the industry for both individual agents and agencies. This year’s ceremony was due to take place at London’s Park Plaza Westminster hotel on July 16.
Stuart Parish, Travel Weekly managing director, said: “The Agent Achievement Awards is an absolute highpoint of the industry calendar, and the decision to postpone the event for a year is one we have taken only after careful deliberation.
“The travel industry and our travel agent readers are facing their biggest ever challenge, and it is entirely right that all firms should be fully focused on their staff, their customers and the future of their businesses in the months ahead.”
He added: “Having considered all options including holding the event later in the year, we decided that the most appropriate and supportive decision we could take was to postpone this year’s awards until 2021.
“We hope this decision will allow us all to come together as a united industry next year to celebrate the relationships that have become more important than ever in the current crisis.”
Lucy Huxley, editor-in-chief, said: “For more than 50 years, Travel Weekly has strived to inspire, inform, connect and support the UK travel industry, and never has that role been more crucial than now.
“Like our readers, we have had to adapt and respond to challenges we could not have envisaged a mere two months ago, but our team is passionate about providing the coverage, tools and support they need and deserve through travelweekly.co.uk, our social channels and our weekly digital magazines.”
She added: “We continue to be in awe of the professionalism and commitment of frontline travel agents and the agencies they represent, and we will aim to make the 2021 AAAs a truly fitting tribute when the time is right to gather in celebration again.”