The Biggest Night Of The Year: Prizes Galore And a Facebook Live Stream

Tonight’s the night.

The biggest evening of the year in Canadian travel is here; the second annual TravelPulse Canada Readers’ Choice Awards. And Canadian based travel advisors have a chance to win spectacular prizes by tuning into our live Facebook coverage of the big show.

"Our core strategy as we entered the marketplace was to be a disruptor; to shake things up a bit. We believe that professional travel advisors across the country deserve and, in fact, demand, innovation across all elements of their business and personal lives," said John Kirk, Travel Pulse Canada President. "The Canadian Travel Hall of Fame and a gala awards evening to celebrate our business, with awards voted on by agents; things like this have defined who we are.

"We believe innovation in the way we deliver our content every day is a big part of our success. Doing a full-length stream of the entire event tonight via Facebook, in high definition, is pretty cool, and we are all really excited to share the evening with agents. We are appreciative of the support shown by Travel fintech company Uplift as they are the official sponsor of our stream and social media for the evening. There are a ton of prizes to be given away to viewers as well."

We'll be live streaming the event on our Facebook page.

Not only can you watch the event from home or the office, or mobile device, you also can win INCREDIBLE prizes just by watching. To win, you must be a travel advisor, and you have to like our Facebook page and watch the live stream to be eligible to win, as we’ll be doing the draw at the conclusion of our event, which begins at 8 pm.

Here is a list of prizes up for grabs by agents:

- Two round trip tickets on Air Canada Rouge from Toronto to fabulous Lima Peru, the gateway to Machu Picchu and the culinary capital of South America.

- Four nights at the Hard Rock all-inclusive in Puerto Vallarta.

-TravelBrands will be giving away 100,000 Loyalty Points (worth roughly $1,000)

- Sunwing is handing out two individual prizes of 100,000 STAR points.

· Air Transat is giving away two seats from any Canadian gateway to your choice of Transat destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico or Florida, plus three individual prizes of 50 BONBON points, a value of $50 each.

Again, in order to be eligible for these prizes, you must be a fully qualified travel advisor. In addition, you need to “like” our Facebook page and of course, watch the live stream. You will need to be online, watching, at the conclusion of the event as we’ll be doing the draw live right before the coveted “Travel Person of the Year” award event. Share the live feed on your own page and double your chances to win!

The brightest stars and biggest names from the top companies in the industry will be on hand for tonight’s awards, and to honour our Canadian Travel Hall of Fame inductees. Among those slated to attend is WestJet founder Clive Beddoe, one of those being enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Beddoe doesn’t make a ton of public appearances so this is a chance to mix and mingle with a Canadian travel legend.

Also expected are hall inductees Vanessa Lee, a towering figure in Canadian travel and cruising, and Philippe Sureau, one of the founders of Air Transat and current chair of Tourisme Montreal.

Robert Deluce, who built Porter Airlines into a major force in Canadian travel, and aviation legend Max Ward also will also take their places in the hall of fame.

The second annual Readers’ Choice Awards will again be held in the magnificent Steam Whistle Brewery event space in downtown Toronto, with food, drinks and a special appearance by the “Amazing Kreskin”, the world-renowned mentalist. (And, yes, he’s promised not to reveal the winners in advance.)

We’ll have plenty of social media posts all night long on our Twitter (@TravelPulseCA) and Instagram pages (@TravelPulseCA). So tune into social media and be sure to use the hashtag #TPCRCA.

Awards will be given out tonight in more than two dozen categories, including honours for best airlines, top cruise companies and best destinations. We’ll also be giving an award to our Social Media Personality Of The Year, so get your hashtags ready for that.

Look for some great photos and a brief rundown on the evening’s events in this space tomorrow. Then, after you enjoy a much-deserved long holiday weekend, check our newsletter first thing Tuesday morning for a look at all the winners and more great pictures of the biggest names in Canadian travel.

This a night you don’t want to miss.