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| Left to right: Daniel Sullivan, Jr., President of Collette, a worldwide tour operator; Michael Batt, Founder & Chairman of Travel Leaders Group; and David Dingle, British Travel Industry Hall of Fame Chairman. |
With a salute to the U.S. travel agency community, Travel Leaders Group chairman and founder Michael Batt was formally inducted into the British Travel Industry Hall of Fame.
Batt dedicated his award to the U.S. travel agency community and praised the travel agents under the Travel Leaders Group umbrella for their remarkable resiliency and dedication to professionalism.
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The British Travel Industry Hall of Fame Annual Dinner was held April 24 at The Savoy Hotel in London.
“Travel agents in the U.S.: they’re all honest hardworking people – professionals – who have committed their lives to this business. And for them, and for all the people in our various brands – and we have a lot of them – I’m delighted to accept this award. It’s very kind,” Batt said. “On their behalf, thank you so much. And please, think well about travel agents. They deserve it.”
A native of Wales who first entered the travel industry over 25 years ago through a high profile marketing role with British Airways, Batt was one of only four travel industry leaders to receive the 2014 honors. In addition to Batt, other 2014 inductees included Chris Browne (Managing Director of Thomson Airways), James Hogan (President & CEO of Etihad Airways) and David Radcliffe (Chief Executive of HRG).
The British Travel Industry Hall of Fame organization said the four honorees “have each been responsible for creating major and highly successful leading organizations in our global travel and hospitality industry, for which they will be honored at The Awards Dinner.”
The British Travel Industry Hall of Fame was created in 1995 by Kingley Event Management and honors outstanding achievement in the British travel, tourism and hospitality industries.