Gareth Williams, founder and chief executive of Skyscanner, has won a prestigious World Travel Market 2015 World Travel Leaders Award in recognition of creating one of the leading travel search companies.
Williams received the coveted award today (Tuesday 3 November) at the WTM World Travel Leaders Award ceremony. The award was presented by Travolution editor, Lee Hayhurst and was collected by Skyscanner’s Europe social media manager, Sam Poullain.
The Awards give WTM London’s Official Media Partners – which represent key travel industry media around the world – an excellent platform to congratulate and recognise those companies and individuals which have made the greatest contributions to travel and tourism in their region or sector.
Three nominations from each of WTM’s media partners were judged in September by a panel of three, made up of an independent body, a representative of WTM and the relevant media partner.
Williams created Skyscanner in 2001 after finding it difficult to book the cheapest flights to visit his brother in the Swiss Alps. He teamed up with co-founders Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes in the hope to create a website that makes it easy to track down the best travel deals.
Now, Skyscanner is arguably the UK’s most successful online travel business and last year US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital valued the firm at US$800 million. Skyscanner now has a global reach with offices in the UK, Barcelona, Beijing, Miami and Singapore employing over 300 staff from more than 40 different nationalities. It’s also extending its reach in terms of product after it recently established a business to business unit which will offer sector insight and data to industry partners like airlines, tourist boards and tour operators.
It’s described as “the most attractive tech company in Europe” and receives more than 25 million unique visitors per month worldwide and their multi-award winning mobile app has been downloaded over 25 million times. An incredible achievement from the Norfolk-born entrepreneur, who studied math and computer science at the University of Manchester.
The judges acknowledged Williams’ incredible rise and said: “A great example of an entrepreneur who launched, and remained as Chief Executive, of a true British success story. Taking the business into multi-regions has seen Skyscanner described as the most attractive tech company in Europe.”
Every year, World Travel Leaders Awards are presented at WTM London. The full list of 2015 winners is:
Canada: WestJet
Spain: Loro Parque Fundacion
Italy: Trenitalia
Brazil: Mr. Eloi D’Avila De Oliveira – Founder of Flytour group
Portugal: Vila Gale Hotels
Russia: Bronevik.com
India: roomsXML Solutions Limited
China: World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF)
Travolution: Gareth Williams
USA: Arthur Frommer
TTG: G Adventures
Middle East: Air Arabia
