By Kevin Bunch, New Client Relations Officer at Go Beyond Holidays. Kevin is Go Beyond’s newest staff member, bringing a wealth of travel experience. He lives in South Wales with his partner and daughter, where he also runs a poetry-writing business.
Here at Go Beyond Holidays, we are regularly sounded out as industry leaders for supported holidays, but every now and then it’s nice to receive confirmation of that very fact!
On 9 October 2024, the travel industry magazine, Aspire, is set to celebrate the achievements of the high-end travel sector with an awards ceremony honouring the dedication and determination shown by outstanding individuals and companies.
Go Beyond are delighted to have been shortlisted in the ‘Inclusivity Champion Of The Year’ category. We are up against some fantastic competition and feel honoured to be nominated alongside these companies, who also deserve much recognition.
Black-tie ceremony
Aspire is the luxury sister publication of Travel Weekly and this rather swanky, black-tie ceremony is being held in a top Manchester hotel, sponsored by Luxury Cruises.
Hundreds of guests, representing dozens of travel companies, will be present to witness some 28 awards being presented.
We’re not exactly accustomed to this kind of glitz ’n’ glamour event, but we’re leaving our sandals and walking boots in the cupboard and swapping them for our smartest shoes and finest suits, as we head up to rub shoulders with our fellow nominees.
Multiple judging panels
As is the case every year, there will be multiple judging panels, to ensure there is no bias in the process.
Judges submit their chosen winners individually, and the Aspire team will then combine the results to establish the winners.
By way of further recognition from our peers, one of our directors, Ian Callen, has been asked to be on the judging panel for another inclusivity category. We feel this is a great honour, with Ian gratefully accepting the invitation to assist in the voting process.
Fifteen fabulously busy years
It seems like yesterday that Go Provence (as Go Beyond was formerly known), offered its first holiday in the Gorges du Verdon.
We are now 15 years old and it’s been another fabulously busy year for our team as we’re nearing the end of our 2024 schedule.
So far this year, we’ve been to numerous destinations, where among many other things we’ve been ….
- Camel riding in Morocco
- Skiing in the French Alps
- Grand Prix spectating in Monaco
- Exploring beautiful Brussels
- Waterfall watching in Iceland
- Attending an ABBA party at the 02
- Discovering the Galician region of Spain
- Looking for Count Dracula in Transylvania
Looking ahead
We still have three scheduled holidays left to Scotland, Corsica and Finland while we carefully put the finishing touches to 2025’s itinerary, ready for our brochure launch at the end of September.
We’re incorporating many new destinations for our guests to enjoy and we can’t wait to announce them!
Never in a million years when we started out did we think we’d be able to offer the diverse, fully supported itinerary we now do for groups of guests, as well as our Travel Buddy scheme, where individuals can choose their trip which we organise and support them on.
We’re thrilled
We absolutely love what we do and certainly don’t do it in the hope of attending posh awards ceremonies such as this…… but we won’t lie, we’re absolutely thrilled!
Please get in touch
Our website is https://www.gobeyondholidays.com/
