More than 100 National Travel Industry Award (NTIA) attendees and nominees gathered in Sydney at the exclusive, invite-only Karryon Glam Club event, hosted for the third consecutive year.
Returning to the Harbour City this year, the Karryon Glam Club was hosted at W Sydney in partnership with Air Canada, Globus Family of Brands (GFOB), New York State Division of Tourism and Norwegian Cruise Line as an appreciation for nominees and industry friends.
Gathered in the newly opened W Sydney hotel, guests were welcomed on Saturday afternoon to the most hotly anticipated pre-NTIA event of the calendar.
Sipping on drinks and enjoying canapés in the Great Room, attendees mingled with industry colleagues while others made a beeline for the expert hair and make-up professionals to ensure optimum presentation and to be ‘glam ready’ for the travel industry awards spectacular, hosted afterwards at the nearby at ICC Sydney, Darling Harbour.
Air Canada’s Vic Naughton, General Manager Australia and New Zealand, congratulated all those who were vying for awards honours later in the evening.
“You are making an invaluable contribution to the overall excellence of the Australian travel industry, and at Air Canada we look forward to once again working closely with you over the next 12 months,” said Naughton.
“I’m a firm believer that we should embrace every opportunity to celebrate excellence in the travel industry, and I’m delighted – but not surprised – to see so many of our trade partners named as finalists in this year’s National Travel Industry Awards,” he said.
Brett Simon, Head of Commercial, Australia and New Zealand at Globus Family of Brands (a Karryon Glam Club foundation partner), said that GFOB was “always excited to support the Karryon Glam Club each year.”
“It has become THE event to kick off the NTIA’s in style and is a fantastic way to celebrate and network with some of the industry’s finest. Everyone at Globus Family of Brands would like to extend a massive congratulations to all the finalists and winners at this year’s NTIA’s. Here is to a successful 2025 ahead,” said Simon.
Damian Borg, Director of Sales, Strategy and Operations, Asia Pacific at Norwegian Cruise Line said NCL was proud to be a foundation partner of Karryon Glam Club.
“This is our third year as sponsor of the Karryon Glam Club, and as a foundation partner, we are so excited to again be hosting the best of the best of our amazing industry prior to our big night! Thank you Karrryon for making this event a huge success,” said Borg.
Michael Cassis, Strategic Director at Linkd Tourism for New York State Division of Tourism was excited about the event as a precursor to a busy year ahead for the tourism board.
“New York State Division of Tourism wanted to show our appreciation for all the work our agent and industry partners have put into making the past 12 months such a success for our industry, and we extend our congratulations to the winners and all the nominees,” Cassis told Karryon.
“Being able to celebrate with you all on a night where glitz and glamour is in abundance feels like a lovely precursor to what we have planned for 2025 as we look to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby, which has long been an icon of the roaring 20s and the beauty of New York State, where the book is set. It’s just the start of what we have planned for the next 12 months as we continue to showcase to our trade and industry partners, why it’s easy to love New York State,” said Cassis.
At Karryon Glam Club, Cassis on behalf of New York State Division of Tourism took the opportunity to announce a new agent training webinar, complete with an incentive to entice agents to watch and win during the month of November. In the incentive, one winner will receive a July suitcase; while five runners-up will receive ILNY gift packs.
Reprising her role as emcee of the event was General Manager of Karryon, Dani Tuffield, who also later took to the floor with microphone in hand to hear more from the invite-only crowd.
“I absolutely love the spirit and the vibe of Karryon Glam Club and the buzz of coming together and getting glam as we celebrate the nominees of the industry’s big night,” said Tuffield.
“It’s a fun celebration for all of us and really sets the scene for the NTIA awards ceremony. It has become one of my faves of the year. Plus, who doesn’t love a little extra zjooshing?”
Read who all the NTIA winners on the night were here in our complete wrap.
View a gallery of images from the event here.
