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TTG and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line have found their superheroes of the travel industry, naming the two winners of the inaugural Face of Travel competition.
After attracting nearly 100 entrants and almost 6,000 votes, the competition came to a dramatic conclusion on Saturday onboard Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas in Southampton.
All the finalists faced a tense and gruelling X-Factor-style showdown during which they tried their best to persuade a panel of judges from TTG and Royal Caribbean that they should be the Face of Travel for 2008.
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After a difficult period of deliberation, the judges eventually agreed Cruise Thomas Cook’s Ryan Inman, 24, and Karen Eason, 26, manager of Sunshine Travel, (both pictured left) should take the top prize, giving them a year in the travel spotlight.
The quality of the hopefuls was so high the panel decided to name winners in all four age and gender categories, with St Andrews Travel’s Janet Whittingham and Mehmet Tepeli, of Packyourbags Travel Store, winning in the two over-35 categories.
In addition, all the finalists were invited back to Southampton later this year by Royal Caribbean for the inaugural celebrations of its upmarket brand Celebrity Cruises’ new class of Solstice ship.
The line also vowed to ensure it worked more closely with all the entrants after hearing about their passion for the travel industry, selling cruise and their plans and ambitions for growing their businesses.
Royal Caribbean UK managing director Jo Rzymowska said: “The standard was incredibly high. I thought the preparation and the thought they put into it was also incredible.
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“That made the decision-making very difficult. I do not think there were any losers. The competition gave us a great snapshot of the market. Some of the finalists were very comfortable selling cruise and have been doing so for 20 years, others were not so sure.
"Both the overall winners used a superhero theme in their presentations, Eason unveiling a Travel Girl outfit and Inman pretending to be Clark Kent reporting back to Lois Lane from the ship."
Inman said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. This is a massive opportunity for me. I see this as my future. I’m 24 years old and a homeworking manager and this is the next step in my career development.”
Eason added: “I rehearsed all week, but I still could not believe it when I was announced as the winner. I love everything about the travel industry; especially going to events and meeting new people.
“This will raise the profile of my business and get us recognised more widely and people will take us more seriously. It has opened up a lot of opportunities for the future and we are looking to introduce more cruising.”
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