It was all flash frocks and smarts suits when the travel industry celebrates the best of the best at the National Travel Industry Awards.

• TAANZ president Brent Thomas with Hall of Fame recipient Andrew Bowman
• Jo Rendall, Infinity, Lizzie Brett, Helloworld Travel
• Alice Ager, Alka Thapar, both Uniworld; Megan Singleton, Blogger at Large; Alison Hopkirk, Delta Air Lines
• Lisa Broderick, Flight Centre Brands; Jodie Burnard, Lauren Bainbridge, Flight Centre Travel Group; Kelly Thomas FCM
• Caryn Young, Adventure World; Marija Tolj, Louise Levesque, The Travel Corporation
• Tania Chatsinchai, Andreass Irawan, Wanderlust Travel; Andrew Prins, 360edge Travel; Catherine Cuffie, Envoyage; Margy Twigden, Wanderlust
• Chris Schoffer, Lufthansa Group with xtravel’s Tori Keating and Niki Davies
• James Douglas, Singapore Airlines; Belinda Fifield, House of Travel, Christchurch City
• Kevin Blyth, Allianz Partners; Abigail Gorman, Orbit World Travel Christchurch
• Andrew Bowman, NZ Travel Brokers; Andrew Gay, Travel USA; Fiona Farrell, Flight Centre
• Michelle Malcolm, Michelle Sutton and Cindy Palmer, Quay Travel; Stu Jones, Air New Zealand
• Viking’s Shaun Kavanagh, Michelle Black, Keira Smith and Steve Parker. Viking was named Best Cruise Line of the Year.

Historical film footage, gifts and prizes were all features of the 60th anniversary celebrations of Qantas jet operations in New Zealand.

The actual date of the first Qantas V-Jet 707 flight into CHC was 10 April – but the function to commemorate the occasion was held a week early (in partnership with Christchurch International Airport). Appropriately the event was at Novotel Christchurch Airport with views over the tarmac and runway.

Attendees Sarah Bright, House of Travel Northlink and Gillian Officer, Te Pae Convention Centre won return tickets to Sydney with a $500 voucher to spend at Quay restaurant.

• Rafa Sandoval, Flight Centre; Jess Cribbens, Christchurch International Airport; Rebecca Slee, Qantas; Victoria Courtney, Flight Centre; Chris Lethbridge, Emirates
• Jan Cox, Qantas; Olivia Harvey, House of Travel CHC; Mark Bartram, Orbit CHC; Dave Fordyce, House of Travel
• Brooke Jamieson, Kate Porter, both Helloworld; Koby Jonas, Qantas; Pete Barlow, BCD
• Emily Rose, Qantas; Veronica King, Tourism Australia, John Willson, First Travel Group; Koby Jonas, Qantas
• Alexandra O’Conner, Qantas; Kate Porter, Chris Hunter, both Helloworld
• Victoria Courtney, Flight Centre; Gordon Bevan, Christchurch Airport, Alex O’Connor, Qantas at Novotel Christchurch airport last night

The international hats, prizes, F and B, fun and some serious learning have been converging over the last couple of weeks in the form of Viking’s Vör nights.

The four-city tour ended with a function at Chateau on the Park, Christchurch last night following a lively turnout of about 60 trade partners in Wellington at Naumi Hotel on Wednesday. The week before, about 200 agents attended in Auckland and some 80 agents and brokers turned up in Tauranga.

The events were staged with a backdrop of local growth for the cruise line as well as fleet expansions and promotions.

• We’re going cruising with Viking… Kahoot quiz winners Jo Coolen, House of Travel Kapiti; Sonja Dalley, New Zealand travel brokers (first prize); Danny Hooper, House of Travel Johnsonville; with Viking’s Steve Parker at the Vör night in Wellington
• Petra Otte, House of Travel Wellington; Vanessa Kirkman, Travel Advocates Otaki, Rachel Rhind, Travel Advocates Wellington
• Debbie Natoli, Susan Pincock, Kerry Tuncliffe, Lynette Angus, all Helloworld Miramar
• Gianfranco Belloli, Yvonne Unka, both Flight Centre Lambton Quay; Lisa May Pattison, Rosie Grocott, both Flight Centre North City
• Kylie Wright, Tania O’Reilly, Anita Woodgate, all Wright and Turner Travel Associates Petone
• Babro Scott, Harbour City Travel; Sonya Dalley, NZTB; Maria Whitehead, Harbour City Travel
• Shaun Kavanagh, Viking with spot prize winner Katrina Harding, NZTB

A change in the availability of the guest speaker at Skål International Auckland’s March event at Hotel Britomart, proved fortuitous with president David Graham using the event to invite attending industry leaders to provide updates on how 2025 was shaping up in their sector of the industry. Speakers from across the inbound, hotel and education sectors shared a variety of valuable insights – and discussed how the rest of 2025 will look for them. While inbound tourism is recovering, Auckland tourism and hotel suppliers are eagerly awaiting the opening of the new NZ Convention Centre as a means to capture the important conference and convention business.

The next Skål International Auckland event will be a cocktail event on Thursday 3 April 2025 at the Lylo Hotel Auckland.It’s being sponsored by Mews PMS and RSVPs will be available soon.

• Auckland Club President David Graham (second from right) with Bruce Garrett; Skål Oceania director; Isabel Hartwig, Skål Berlin sponsored student currently working in NZ, Clinton Farley, Hotel Britomart
• Clinton Farley, Hotel Britomart donated a prize of dinner at the hotel's Kingi restaurant, - it was won by Anna Black, General Travel
• Michael Shah, Tourism Properties; Gaye Wood, Regency Tourism; Benedikt Bouillon, Habit Consulting
• Liv Graham and Tania Wakefield, both Waka Pacific Trust, Shelley Trutsch, Waipuna Hotel

The 22nd annual Cruise Industry Awards in Sydney on Saturday night reflected an increasingly diverse travel agent community in Australia and New Zealand, CLIA managing director in Australasia Joel Katz says.

‘We can see new faces and first-time winners in this year’s awards, which is a sign of the fresh talent emerging from within an expanded CLIA membership,’ Katz says. ‘At the same time, we can also see several well-established achievers in the Australasian cruise community – members who have consistently shown leadership and inspiration over many years.’

A highlight was the induction into the CLIA Hall of Fame of Stuart Allison, who is now based in the UK as P&O Cruises chief commercial officer. Allison was recognised for his longstanding industry leadership and his role in transforming the Australasian region into one of the world’s most dynamic cruise markets, most recently leading Princess Cruises as its Sydney-based senior vice president, Asia Pacific, UK & Europe.

Among the award winners were: Rising Star – New Zealand, Melissa Duder, House of Travel Taupo; Cruise Broker of the Year – New Zealand, joint winners Robert Schroder, Mondo Travel and Michelle Downey, Bucket List Travel; Cruise Consultant of the Year – New Zealand, Natasha Warfield, Toussaint & Turner Travel Associates; Cruise Agency of the Year, single location – New Zealand, House of Travel Kapiti Coast.

• Joint Cruise Broker of the Year Robert Schroder, Mondo Travel with Alice Ager, Uniworld
• Joint Cruise Broker of the Year Michelle Downey, Bucket List Travel with Alice Ager, Uniworld
• Meg Koffel, Princess Cruises; Deb Summers, ID Tours
• Brett Simon, Globus family of brands; Tracey Brennan, Regent Seven Seas Cruises
• Jacqui Kennedy, Pauline McLennan, Jayne Alldred, Celeste Ryall, Sheree Clements, all House of Travel at the CLIA Awards welcome cocktails
• Jeff Leckey, House of Travel; Asthika Ram, Royal Caribbean; Kylie Chapman, Ama Waterways
• PONANT’s Alan Wilcock with Cruise Consultant of the Year NZ Natasha Warfield, Toussaint & Turner Travel Associates
• Rising star NZ Melissa Duder with Megan Bishop, both House of Travel Taupo
• Karla Van Niekerk, North Shore Business Travel; Lydia Haydon, YOU Travel Bethlehem, Richard Crouch, Skyline; Kylie Crouch and John Willson, First Travel Group
• Jo Coolen of House of Travel Kapiti Coast, Cruise Agency of the Year (single location) New Zealand