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From travel agency networks and wholesalers to airlines, cruising, car rental and hotels, Australia’s travel sector has plenty of contenders for the crown. But when the awards, industry votes and recent accolades are examined, a select group is clearly travelling at the pointy end of the plane.

Australia’s travel industry has never been short of companies willing to describe themselves as “leading”, “award-winning” or, that old favourite, “world-class”.

The difficulty is separating the genuine champions from those whose trophy cabinet consists largely of creative adjectives.

So, rather than relying on marketing claims, Global Travel Media has examined the latest completed National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) results from the Australian Travel Industry Association, together with current 2026 hotel and travel awards, to identify some of the strongest performers serving the Australian market.

And that distinction is important.

Not every winner featured here is Australian-owned. Singapore Airlines is Singaporean, Viking operates internationally, Club Med is French-born and Hertz is a global car-rental company. What they share is a substantial presence in and recognition from the Australian travel market.

The latest completed NTIAs were held in Brisbane in October 2025, when almost 1,200 travel professionals gathered to recognise achievement across Australia’s travel sector. The 2026 NTIAs will be held in Melbourne on Saturday, 10 October, with winners announced after a judging process involving nominations, submissions and/or industry voting.

Until then, the 2025 NTIA winners remain the reigning national travel-trade champions.

Travellers Choice – Travel Agency Network Champion

Independent travel advisers remain one of the great strengths of Australia’s travel industry, and Travellers Choice sits firmly among the leaders.

The company was named Most Outstanding Travel Agency Network at the 2025 NTIAs, giving it one of the Australian travel industry’s most significant network accolades.

For independent travel businesses, the network model can offer the best of both worlds: the buying power, technology, supplier relationships, and marketing resources of a larger organisation, while allowing individual agencies to retain their own identities and customer relationships.

That last point matters.

Travel is becoming increasingly digital, but customers still value an adviser who remembers whether they prefer an aisle seat, a balcony cabin, or a hotel room far enough from the lift to avoid hearing the entire floor returning from dinner.

Travellers Choice therefore takes our Travel Agency Network accolade, based directly on the latest completed NTIA result.

GTM Travel Agency Network Leader: Travellers Choice

Another major player deserves recognition. Helloworld Travel won the separate Most Outstanding Branded Travel Agency Group category at the 2025 NTIA.

That distinction is worth maintaining. Travellers Choice won the network category; Helloworld won the branded agency group category. Both are formidable performers, but they competed in different categories.

Cruiseco – The Wholesale Power Behind the Holiday

Wholesalers rarely receive the same consumer attention as airlines or cruise lines, but Australian travel advisers know just how important they are.

They provide the inventory, packaging, distribution and specialist product knowledge that allow advisers to transform a customer’s vague declaration that “somewhere warm would be nice” into an actual holiday.

At the 2025 NTIAs, Cruiseco was named Most Outstanding Wholesaler – Product/Service. Meanwhile, ANZCRO and Sno’n’Ski Holidays tied for Most Outstanding Wholesaler – Destination/Experience.

Consequently, Cruiseco takes GTM’s principal wholesaler recognition in the product/service category.

GTM Travel Wholesaler Leader: Cruiseco

The result also demonstrates why “best wholesaler” is not quite as simple as choosing one company and sending everybody else home. Specialist destination expertise and broad product distribution require different skills, which is precisely why the NTIAs divide them into separate categories.

Singapore Airlines and Qantas Two Airline Crowns

Selecting Australia’s “best airline” is one of those exercises best attempted with a sturdy table and an escape route.

Everyone has an opinion.

The travel trade, however, supplied a clear result at the 2025 NTIAs: Singapore Airlines won Most Popular Airline – Online, while Finnair won Most Popular Airline – Offline.

That makes Singapore Airlines the reigning NTIA online airline champion and gives GTM a defensible basis to name it Travel Trade Airline Leader.

GTM Travel Trade Airline Leader: Singapore Airlines

But there is another very Australian wrinkle.

In the 2026 Gourmet Traveller Hotel and Travel Awards Readers’ Choice awards, Qantas was voted Best Airline, with the publication reporting that readers overwhelmingly chose the carrier.

So rather than forcing two different awards into one rather artificial result, both deserve recognition.

2026 Australian Readers’ Choice Airline: Qantas

Qantas and Jetstar are also preparing for operations at the new Western Sydney International Airport, although their passenger services will not begin simultaneously.

Jetstar is scheduled to operate the first commercial passenger flight from Western Sydney International on 25 October 2026, while Qantas passenger operations are scheduled to begin on 28 March 2027, initially linking WSI with Brisbane and Melbourne using QantasLink Embraer E190 aircraft.

That corrects an important distinction: Jetstar starts on opening day; Qantas passenger services follow in 2027.

Viking The Travel Trade’s Double Cruise Champion

Australia’s cruise market offers enough brands, ships and itineraries to keep even the most dedicated cruise specialist reaching for another coffee.

Yet Viking achieved something particularly impressive at the 2025 NTIAs.

It won Most Popular Ocean Cruise Operator and Most Popular River Cruise Operator.

One company. Two major cruise categories.

That earns Viking the clearest claim to GTM’s Travel Trade Cruise Leader title.

GTM Travel Trade Cruise Leader: Viking

Nevertheless, another perspective is worth acknowledging. The 2026 Gourmet Traveller Hotel and Travel Awards named Oceania Cruises its Best Cruise Line.

Again, the difference is methodology rather than contradiction: Viking’s recognition comes from Australian travel-industry voting, while Oceania Cruises received the publication’s 2026 editorial award.

For travel advisers assessing supplier relationships, Viking’s NTIA double is particularly significant.

For travellers comparing luxury cruise experiences, Oceania’s latest accolade deserves a place in the conversation.

Hertz Back in the Driver’s Seat

Car rental is rarely the glamorous part of a holiday.

Nobody returns from Europe waving photographs of the rental counter.

But when the aircraft has landed, the luggage has appeared, and there are another 300 kilometres between the airport and the beach house, suddenly those car keys become extraordinarily important.

Hertz was named Most Popular Car Rental Operator at the 2025 NTIAs, replacing Avis, which won the category in 2024.

That gives Hertz the current national travel-industry accolade.

GTM Car Rental Leader: Hertz

Australia’s geography makes car rental particularly important. Metropolitan travel may increasingly revolve around rail, rideshare and public transport, but regional Australia remains a place where four wheels can transform a good itinerary into a great one.

Sometimes the best travel technology remains a full tank and a road map preferably with somebody else navigating.

Capella Sydney Australia’s Standout Hotel

Choosing Australia’s best individual hotel is considerably more difficult than simply counting stars.

Luxury today encompasses service, design, food, location, personality and a sense of place. Expensive marble alone no longer guarantees immortality.

Capella Sydney was named Hotel of the Year in the 2026 Gourmet Traveller Hotel and Travel Awards, placing the Sydney luxury property at the top of one of Australia’s most prominent current hotel rankings.

Rather than claiming that one award makes any hotel universally “the best”, GTM is recognising Capella Sydney as its Australian Hotel Selection for 2026, supported by that latest major national accolade.

GTM Australian Hotel Selection: Capella Sydney

It is a more precise description and one the evidence can comfortably carry.

Club Med and Sofitel Different Measures of Hotel-Brand Strength

The accommodation group category brings another fascinating split between the travel trade and travelling consumers.

At the 2025 NTIAs, Club Med was named Most Popular Accommodation Group/Chain, successfully retaining the category after also winning it in 2024.

From an Australian travel-trade perspective, that makes Club Med the reigning accommodation group champion.

GTM Travel Trade Accommodation Group Leader: Club Med

However, Gourmet Traveller’s 2026 Readers’ Choice awards produced a different consumer result, with Sofitel named Best Hotel Brand.

2026 Australian Readers’ Choice Hotel Brand: Sofitel

Far from weakening the comparison, the differing results make it more useful.

One reflects recognition within Australia’s professional travel distribution sector. The other reflects the preference of readers of a leading Australian travel and lifestyle publication.

Different audiences. Different criteria. Both valuable.

Australia’s Travel Leaders Still Win on the Fundamentals

Technology is transforming travel at extraordinary speed.

Artificial intelligence can suggest an itinerary in seconds. Booking engines can compare hundreds of fares before breakfast. Apps can check travellers in, open hotel rooms, translate menus and announce that the departure gate has changed just as you reach the old one.

Yet the businesses that keep winning major travel-industry awards tend to succeed for decidedly traditional reasons.

Service. Reliability. Product knowledge. Relationships. Trust.

Travellers Choice gives independent advisers network strength. Helloworld demonstrates the power of a branded retail group. Cruiseco supports the trade with product. Singapore Airlines and Qantas compete for Australian travellers in very different ways. Viking has achieved the unusual feat of topping both ocean and river cruise categories. Hertz puts travellers behind the wheel. Club Med and Sofitel demonstrate two different measures of accommodation-brand strength, while Capella Sydney shows just how high Australian luxury hospitality has climbed.

The winners may change when the 2026 National Travel Industry Awards are announced in Melbourne on 10 October 2026.

Until then, these companies have something rather more useful than another marketing slogan.

They have results.

And in travel, as in life, the scoreboard usually settles the argument.