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British Travel Awards to go virtual this year
The British Travel Awards (BTA) will go virtual this year and at a later date due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The event usually takes place in November at a large ceremony in London’s Battersea Evolution.
The 2020 award winners will be announced in a virtual ceremony starting on December at 2pm, broadcast live from a recording studio, with pre-recorded clips, featuring sponsors announcing some of the winners, inserted into the programme.
In addition, live links will be set up for the top three finalists in each category, enabling them to sign in and be visible to viewers whilst awaiting the result.
Due to lockdown, the usual BTA timeline has been extended. Nominations to register for an award are now open and will run for an extended period through to 31 July, to allow as many travel companies as possible to get involved, with categories across all sectors of the travel industry. Consumer voting will then start later than usual on 6 September, closing on 22 November.
British Travel Awards CEO Lorraine Barnes Burton said: "Although many people will miss out on holidays this summer there will still be those who travelled after 30 September 2019 (the end of the BTA 2019 consumer voting period) until right up to lockdown who will have an opinion on their travel providers. In addition, with an extended voting period up 22 November, we’re hopeful some will be able to resume their travels and give us their thoughts. Plus, we want the consumer to nominate those companies that performed well during the crisis, in terms of customer service, so they can receive recognition.
"I’m very excited that we’re going to move the awards to a virtual event this year. We’ll miss the fun of the Gala night but it’s important that travel companies don’t miss out on their chance to win an Award – it could be just the boost needed to start 2021 on a positive high!"
Follow the British Travel Awards on Twitter @BritTravAwrds and join the Linkedin group to receive regular updates.
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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