Winning the overall World Routes Awards 2013 was Tourism Australia, marking the first time that a tourism authority took the top accolade. Held in Las Vegas on Oct. 7, the awards ceremony took place at Caesars Palace as part of World Routes, the largest commercial aviation conference.
“It means a lot to be overall winner in the World Routes Awards 2013. I think it is one of the great partnerships we have in the world, which is our aviation partnerships; our state and territory partnerships and our airport partnerships,” said Andrew McAvoy, managing director, Tourism Australia. “So it means a lot to Team Australia. “Tourism has gone up to accept the award, but quite genuinely, it’s an award that Australia has achieved together.”
The awards, which are voted exclusively by airlines, were split into five categories comprising of four airport categories, split by size and a destination category for the best destination marketing campaign by a tourism authority, which was also awarded to Tourism Australia.
“We would like congratulate all of this year’s winners, but our panel of judges felt that Tourism Australia should be crowned overall winner due to their clear strategy and their submission, which plainly illustrated that it provides support for airlines in all the right areas showing excellence in route development,” said Nigel Mayes, vice president of commercial, Routes, UBM Live.
Changi Airport Group was named winner of the Over 50m Passengers category while Copenhagen Airport was honored for the 20m-50m Passengers group. From the 4m-20m Passengers category, San Diego International Airport took the top spot with Darwin International Airport winning the Under 4m Passengers category.
Created in 1997 to recognize excellence in airport marketing as rewarded by airlines, the annual Routes awards provide the airline community with the chance to have their say as to which airport they think provides the best overall marketing services to them.
In addition to the shortlisted finalists nominated by the airlines, the regional winners from each of the regional Routes events from 2013 automatically gained a place in the final judging. A panel of judges made up of senior members of the airline network planning community then reviewed the lists and submissions from the nominated airports to determine the winners.
The World Routes conference was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from Oct. 5-8.
The full list of companies shortlisted under each award category:
Over 50m Passengers
Changi Airport Group – Winner
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – Highly Commended
Dubai International Airport – Highly Commended
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
Suvarnabhumi International Airport
Between 20-50m Passengers
Copenhagen Airport – Winner
Incheon International Airport – Highly Commended
Munich Airport – Highly Commended
Kunming Wujiaba International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Vienna International Airport
Between 4-20m Passengers
San Diego International Airport – Winner
Auckland Airport – Highly Commended
Brussels Airport – Highly Commended
Athens International Airport
Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport
Under 4m Passengers
Darwin International Airport – Winner
Kilimanjaro International Airport – Highly Commended
Shannon Airport – Highly Commended
Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport
Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany)
Destination
Tourism Australia – Winner
Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau – Highly Commended
Turismo de Tenerife – Highly Commended
Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Seychelles Tourism Board
Overall Winner
Tourism Australia
