The honour, which recognises a travel industry male professional who actively encourages, enables, and supports women in business, was awarded during the association’s annual Christmas lunch on Monday (5 December). 

AWTE described Pearce as a “fierce champion and vocal supporter of diversity and inclusion” and praised his commitment to “driving equality in travel”.

“Since taking the helm at TTG in 2010, Dan has made it his mission to push for a smarter, better and fairer travel industry, offering everyone the opportunity to succeed regardless of their gender, sexuality, age or ethnicity,” said AWTE. 

https://twitter.com/DanielPearce/status/1599827836029673472

Also in the category, Phil Donnelly, Travelport’s chief people officer, received a high commendation for his work around diversity, equity and inclusion, which AWTE said had “significant benefits for our female leaders”.

Meanwhile, Alessandro Alonso, the founder of Women in Travel CIC, was the recipient of AWTE’s Honorary Award, given to a female travel figure “who has gone above and beyond in the past year”. 

AWTE said Alonso had “dedicated her life to economically empowering women, particularly the most disadvantaged, vulnerable, and underrepresented” and recognised her as “a trailblazer in gender empowerment”.

Advantage Travel Partnership chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said was highly commended in the same category for her “exceptional” leadership. 

Gail Kenny, co-founder of Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment, won AWTE’s Start Up of the Year award, for launching the Best Workplaces in Travel initiative.

Kenny was praised for being “inspiring and courageous” in starting a new business during the pandemic and for having “the foresight to see the gap in the market, with a concept that could support industry recovery”.

AWTE’s Social Impact award, given to an individual or brand for innovation positively impacting the travel community in a sustainable way, went to Intrepid Travel, while Travlaw scooped the association’s Inclusion award for showing “outstanding commitment to equality” and “engaging with diversity, inclusion, and age-related issues with, and on behalf of, the industry”.

AWTE’s Rising Star of the Year, awarded to an individual who is 30 or under and has made a significant industry impact, was won by Louise Holt.

Holt was described as “consistently going above and beyond” to drive growth for Eurocamp, with judges praising her “keen eye for spotting opportunities and supportive nature as a manager”.

Lindsay Garvey-Jones, chair of AWTE, said: “All our winners should be extremely proud of themselves. This year the awards were part of our Christmas lunch, which once again was a huge success in a stunning new venue. 

“We owe massive thanks to our sponsors for their continued support throughout 2022. It was so fabulous to see so many people coming together again and a great opportunity for us to meet so many of our new members. 

“The AWTE is going from strength to strength and I’m really looking forward to continuing to support members with a range of events focussing on mental health and  wellbeing and personal development throughout the year.”