Readers of leading British travel trade publication Travel Trade Gazette (TTG), nominated Belleair Holidays as one of the travel industry’s finest suppliers at the magazine’s annual award ceremony. More than 1,200 guests gathered at Old Billingsgate in London to celebrate the achievements of the best in the British travel industry.

Belleair Holidays was nominated for the Tour Operator of the Year – Western Mediterranean award and was narrowly beaten by Airtours. Other nominees included Cosmos and Thomas Cook. A panel of 40 industry experts, including representatives from tour operators, journalists and tourism boards, chose the eventual winners in each category.

Hosted by leading BBC TV personality Graham Norton, the TTG Awards were a lavish celebration including an after-show party that lasted into the early hours. Introduced by TTG associate publishers John Welsh and Paula Martin, the gala

dinner and presentation of awards gave the industry the opportunity to meet, congratulate and network with the cream of the travel world.

Commenting on the nomination, Martin Zahra, CEO of Holiday Malta, said: “Clearly we are disappointed that we did not win our category outright, but to be nominated in an award ceremony of this calibre is a tremendous achievement and our staff here in the UK should be justly proud of getting this far. We will continue to work hard with the British travel trade over the coming year to ensure that victory is ours in 2007!”

Belleair Holidays is the principal UK brand of Holiday Malta Co. Ltd, part of the Air Malta group of companies, and is recognised in the UK as the leading specialist tour operator to the Maltese Islands.