For our latest Q&A with the winners of the 2020 Travel Media Awards, we spoke to Sophie Griffiths, editor of TTG, which won not just Trade Publication of the Year – Print, but also Trade Publication of the Year – Online.

What does it mean to the TTG team to be recognised with two Travel Media Awards?
The team have worked incredibly hard over the past year, despite facing immense pressures both personally and professionally. To have all their hard work recognised with two Travel Media Awards is a huge honour and a fantastic achievement for the whole team.

What have been your biggest challenges in 2020?
Like all businesses, I think the biggest challenge was looking after the mental health of the team as everyone moved to working from home. We’re an incredibly tight-knit team so we ensured staff morale was maintained through virtual pub nights, Zoom quizzes, and regular ‘buddy chats’. Other challenges included the decision to pause print production in April and then — much more happily! — the decision to return to print as a monthly in September. We also had to learn very quickly how to host live virtual events, which was a steep learning curve, but after 12 months, I’m proud to say we’ve now hosted more than 100 online events. 

Why is working in the travel trade media important to you?
It’s a chance to really get involved with the industry but also to support it in times of crisis, and TTG has striven to do just that over the past 12 months. The whole team have been incredibly moved by the stories of job losses and financial failure facing many businesses and we’ve never felt closer to our readers. Being recognised as the leading B2B travel trade title has given me and the TTG team a platform to represent the travel industry at a national level on TV, radio and in newspapers but also with regards to access to government ministers. I’ve interviewed the minister for aviation and maritime, the tourism minister and chair of the transport select committee in the past few months alone. The past 12 months have really highlighted just what a vital role the B2B media play in travel, especially at times of crisis.

Why do you think TTG is a successful publication, both in print and online?
In 2019, we redesigned our magazine and established a new mission statement: to promote a smarter, better, fairer travel industry. This ethos now lies at the heart of everything we do as a business — it’s a passion that resonates with both readers and advertisers and it’s strengthened loyalty to the TTG brand.  Alongside breaking news stories and securing exclusives, the team work hard to ensure we produce dedicated features focused on key business advice (at a time when this has never been more important), as well as sustainability. The use of inclusive imagery is just as important, as is our push for greater diversity in our speaker line-ups at TTG events — I’m proud that we’re constantly challenging ourselves to be better.

What’s the difference in your approach to print and online content?
Over the past 12 months, we’ve spent a lot of time considering how our print and online products should work together. We came to the conclusion a weekly publication just didn’t make sense in the current climate, when the news agenda was — and is — changing so rapidly. No sooner had we gone to press than the magazine was out of date.

As a monthly title, TTG now serves an entirely different purpose — we focus on longer, more analytical reads, offering readers greater insight into key topics that remain relevant for the month.

Meanwhile, ttgmedia.com is considered the ‘go to’ for the latest travel industry news, with midday and evening bulletins collating top headlines. The launch of our new online membership programme TTG+ has also changed the way our readers consume content — we introduced a raft of new benefits including a live Suppliers Directory, which has proved hugely beneficial in the current environment when industry personnel are changing all the time. We also placed the entire TTG archive (dating back to 1953) online, which attracted a lot of interest from industry stalwarts. In April 2020, we launched the TTG Travel Agent Tracker, surveying readers every fortnight to track bookings, enquiries and travel trends, which we collate into a fortnightly report, offering TTG+ members regular unique insight into the travel market. The result has been a huge success — bolstering loyalty to the TTG brand and leading to a fast-growing TTG+ community.

We’re pleased to announce that tickets are now on sale for the 2021 Travel Media Awards at the Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel on Monday 18 October. Buy them here to make sure you don’t miss out.