AFTA fires up public vote

AFTA is gearing up for its third People’s Choice campaign as part of this year’s National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA), aiming to build on the 8,000 public votes lodged in 2017.

The 2018 People’s Choice: Retail Travel Agency of the Year initiative is aimed directly at promoting bricks and mortar suburban ATAS travel agencies, AFTA says, and will officially launch on Mon.

AFTA chief executive Jayson Westbury said it was hoped this year would attract greater involvement from networks and independent ATAS travel agencies to maximise consumer engagement, and that invaluable market insights would be gained.

“We surveyed all 8,000 consumers that voted (last year) and learned that 49% of travellers believe that a travel agent provides the best advice when choosing a holiday destination,” Westbury said.

“This scored higher than the influence of TripAdvisor, a movie, a book or a magazine, a ‘great deal I found online’ and even ‘something I saw on social media’.”

The People’s Choice voting process will be promoted through International Traveller and Australian Traveller magazines and their websites, which receive 1.5 million visits per annum.

Those who vote go into the draw to win a Mekong river cruise from award sponsor APT.

Voting runs 29 Jan to 31 May and the winner will be named at the NTIAs on 21 Jul - CLICK HERE for more details.