Last night at Battersea Evolution in London’s BatterseaPark, the 2011 British Travel Awards ceremony celebrated an impressive line-up of winning travel companies as voted for by the British public. This year more than 700,000 votes were cast – three times more than last year – making The British Travel Awards (BTA) the largest independent customer-voted awards scheme in the UK.

All eyes were on travel giants Thomas Cook and Tui – to see which company would receive the most awards from their many brands.  Tui came up trumps with an impressive eighteen awards against Thomas Cooks’ fifteen, with Tui brands Thomson Ski claiming the winning award Best Ski and Winter Sports Tour Operator, and Crystal Ski collecting the Silver award.