The 2019 Global Youth Travel Awards (GYTAs) ceremony will be held on 11 October, bringing the World Youth and Student Travel Conference in Lisbon to a close.
This year, we have received a record-breaking number of submissions for the nominated categories and votes for the consumer-voted awards. In particular, it has been interesting to see a sharp increase in submissions for the Extraordinary Experience award. This supports what we know about millennial and Gen Z travellers: a mutually-rewarding experience, both to the individual and the host country, is high on the list of priorities for today’s youth. The Best Sustainable Organisation category also received a large volume of high calibre entries; perhaps not surprising either in the age of Greta Thunberg and the the global push towards minimalising the impact that we, as travellers, have upon the environment.
The submissions for the ten nominated categories have been carefully evaluated by our panel of judges, leading to three finalists being selected for each category. Three finalists have also been determined for the four consumer-voted categories.Â
Thank you to everyone that has participated in this year’s Global Youth Travel Awards!
Nominated categories
Best Education Abroad Provider
EDU Africa
Envoys
Rustic Pathways
Best Marketing Campaign
African Impact
Contiki
Rustic Pathways
Best Social Responsibility Initiative
Barcelona Pere Tarrés
GROUND Asia
Kiwi Experience
Best Social Space in a Hostel
Casa Pepe Hostel
Lub d Patong
Once in Joburg
Best Sustainable Organisation
Camps International
GROUND Asia
Wildlife ACT
Best Travel Safety Initiative
EBI Consulting
The Forum on Education Abroad
World Nomads
Best Travel Technology Product
bitemojo
CoursePricer
Trip Loop
Best Work Experience Provider
Greenheart Exchange
InterExchange
Medical Projects
Extraordinary Experience
GVI
InterExchange
Roots Interns
Outstanding Volunteer Project
GVI
Pod Volunteer
Projects Abroad
Consumer-voted categories
Best Youth Travel Agent
Booking.com
STA Travel
StudentUniverse
Best Youth Tour Operator
BAMBA Experience
Rustic Pathways
SANDEMANs New Europe
Best Youth Travel Accommodation
a&o Hostels
Generator
Selina
Join us at the Global Youth Travel Awards gala dinner at WYSTC.
Sponsored by: Â 
Meet the judges
 Fifteen industry experts were chosen as judges of this year’s Global Youth Travel Awards (GYTAs). To assure the integrity of the evaluation process, each judge was asked to declare any conflicts of interest with applicants, even if the conflict was considered to be remote, contingent or apparently insubstantial. No judge was allowed to evaluate an award category that his/her own organisation had entered. The identity of each judge was unknown to other judges until the completion of the evaluation.
Thank you to all of our judges: