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“I was delighted to be part of the judging panel for the 2019 British Youth Travel Awards.The awards are a great initiative by BETA to recognise the large number of businesses that do a great job servicing the highly valuable youth travel market. I was impressed with the many fine submissions particularly so in the categories of Best Innovation and Best Accommodation. Clearly businesses are listening to their young customer base, are adapting and improving their product to better serve this important market now and into the future.”
“I had no doubt that the youth and student businesses and organisations that entered the British Youth Travel Awards would be impressive but I was truly bowled over by the calibre of entries. It was a well-fought competition and I found it a very tough task marking the entries. Thanks for the privilege of being a judge.“
“It was a pleasure judging the British Youth Travel Awards – it’s great to read about companies going above and beyond to give their customers the best possible experience. The Best Educational Product and Best Support Service categories were tough to judge as there were so many great examples of innovation and success.”
“The nominees in the Best Volunteering category, without fail, are all doing fantastic work. Their projects are making a difference to people’s lives. Also it gives the volunteers who give of their time to help out, some great hands-on education and understanding of different ways of life to that which we are used to in Western Europe.”
“In judging the awards, I was struck by the number and range of ethical and socially responsible campaigns and initiatives being led by both small and larger organisations in the sector. This was a real breath of fresh air.”
“These awards highlight the breadth of quality activities on offer to young people to support learning, curiosity and new experiences. The industry should be proud of the commitments shown to superior service, continuing innovation and to ensuring really satisfied customers.”
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Cecelia Adjei
Brand Partnerships Manager, VisitBritain
Cecelia manages the non-commercial partnerships activity across areas of film, sport, fashion, food and music at VisitBritain, the national tourism agency for Britain. Managing VisitBritain’s portfolio of brand partnerships includes developing strategies for campaign delivery and leading on developing compelling international marketing campaigns to encourage tourism visitors to Britain. VisitBritain uses recognised titles and characters to build fully integrated campaigns. Cecelia has worked on exciting screen tourism partnerships, including: Kingsman: The Golden Circle, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, BFG, Spectre, Paddington Bear, Minions, Victoria, and Downton Abbey. No one day is the same in Cecelia’s world. She is also responsible for supporting teams in forming suitable partnerships for campaign activity across VisitBritain & VisitEngland. Cecelia manages the recruitment of lifestyle content partners, working across PR and content.
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Steve Dobson
Chief Executive, Unusual Hotels of the World
When Steve Dobson co-founded Unusual Hotels of the World in 2004, he uncovered the opportunity to attract millions of visitors to sleep somewhere with a story. With a background in marketing, he advises and inspires property owners to craft compelling stories that captivate audiences around the world. From treehouses to caves, planes, trains, churches, igloos and prisons - even underwater – the most extreme listings receive millions of views. However, it is often the less extreme that benefit from bookings.
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Gary Grieve
Managing Director, Capela Training
Gary is the founding director of Capela, a languages graduate with over 20 years experience in marketing and general management for the travel industry. He trains in sales, marketing and business skills and has been an accredited WorldHost (customer service) trainer since 2011 and a qualified China Welcome trainer since 2013. Recently he has run a number of country-wide training programmes, online and offline, as part of VisitEngland’s Discover England Fund to develop international tourism markets in the regions.
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Paul Halpenny
Advisor: International tourism and accommodation sector
Paul brings a wealth of experience in the hospitality industry and in particular the online travel space. Over the past nine years he has worked with Hostelworld Group as a member of the Leadership team, managing partner revenue, International operations and key client relationships with the global hotel and hostel industry. During his time with Hostelworld he also hosted the largest annual industry conference and the delivery of the global HOSCAR awards. Prior to this he worked with Best Western Hotels as managing director for International development where he was a key member of the leadership team that successfully rolled out the first sub brand, Best Western Premier.
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Celia Partridge
Assistant Director, Partnerships and Mobility, Universities UK International
Celia has worked at the Royal College of Music and at the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), where she led on the Prime Minister’s Initiative for International Education. Her private sector experience includes managing Barclays UK flagship community investment programme. As a consultant, her work has included strategic reviews, programme development and sustainability strategy for a range of charities and private enterprises, most recently the Business and Sustainable Development Commission. She joined UUKi in August 2017.
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Paul Richer
Senior Partner, Genesys Digital Transformation
Paul is Senior Partner of the world’s leading independent travel technology consultancy, Genesys Digital Transformation (www.genesys.net). Paul founded the consultancy nearly 25 years ago and during that time Genesys has helped many travel companies select and implement new technology. Clients range from some of the smallest travel businesses to the largest, market leading, global players. All benefit from Genesys’ unrivalled experience, expertise and in-depth knowledge of the travel industry’s strategies, technology and business processes.
Paul’s consultancy work includes assisting clients with the purchase of new travel systems, project management of new systems implementation, board-level advice on profitable strategies for the digital world, due diligence for acquisitions and mergers, website and technology audits. Paul chairs the majority of the industry’s digital travel conferences in Europe so he has built up an extensive knowledge of leading edge best practice. His advice propels his travel industry clients to new levels of profitability. Most recently, Paul has launched a new business, Sygma Global, combining website development and online marketing services into a single package with fixed monthly payments in the style of a mobile phone contract. Paul holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, is a Fellow of the Institute of Travel & Tourism and Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
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Jeannie Shapiro
Student Travel Entrepreneur
Jeannie has well-established roots in both the UK & US student travel world with over 20 years’ experience working with CIEE/Council Travel and Usit. She served on the BETA Board for over 10 years until 2016. A Marketing Professional, she founded and ran a leading e-brochure, digital agency for many years and now puts her energy and entrepreneurial skills into working with SMEs to develop their businesses and get them noticed. Jeannie’s most recent experience and second career is in property building a portfolio of student accommodation. She is a networker extraordinaire and self-confessed lover of social media.
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Miranda Thomas
Director of the Chevening Secretariat at the Association of Commonwealth Universities
Miranda Thomas is Director of the Chevening Secretariat at the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Chevening is the UK Government’s international awards scheme aimed at developing global leaders. Funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organisations, Chevening offers two types of award – Chevening Scholarships and Chevening Fellowships – the recipients of which are personally selected by British embassies and high commissions throughout the world. The Chevening Secretariat administers the programme on behalf of the FCO. Previously Miranda was an Assistant Director at Universities UK International, leading the External Affairs team. Other higher education sector roles have included leading the Education and Skills Practice at PR consultancy Communications Management, and teams at Cass Business School, City University London, and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She started out in consumer PR promoting everything from Girlguiding UK and the Economist to Clarins and Captain Birds Eye. Miranda studied drama at the University of Exeter.
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