InsideJapan Tours

Latest News

Friday, 21st September 2018

Winners of Editor's Choice Award at The Times Travel Awards 2018

On Thursday 20th September, InsideAsia Tours were crowned the winners of the Sunday Times Editor's Choice Award at the 2018 Times Travel Awards ceremony near Johannesburg, South Africa.

Now in their sixth year, the highly respected annual Times, Sunday Times and Sunday Times Travel Magazine awards celebrate the cr�me de la cr�me of destinations, hotels and tour operators, as voted for by readers.

InsideAsia Tours' PR and Marketing Manager, James Mundy was presented with the award by the Sunday Times' Travel Editor and Travel Journalist of the Year, Martin Hemming. Here's what he had to say about the company:

" The award-winning company was there before the recent surge of interest in Japan, set up by two men - Simon King and Alastair Donnelly - around the year 2000. They had just come back from teaching in Japan and wanted to share the country with as many people as possible. Their expertise shows: travel with them and you get tailored fanzine-like guides to each city and region you visit. Not platitudes and paragraphs copied from Wikipedia, but top tips for things to do and - crucial in Japan - where to eat. They create trips for different budgets: many of their most popular itineraries are split into four price categories: economy, classic, superior and deluxe. They're not "high end" or "high street". They cater for their clients. You could rough it one night; spend thousands on a remote ryokan the next.

Anything you want to do, they can sort it. On my two trips with them - one of which, and this is a vote of confidence from a travel journalist, I paid for with (mostly) my own money - I have learnt to be a ninja, cycled to the best octopus-ball stands in Osaka and taken a 25-hour ferry to one of the world's remotest islands. My guide in Osaka took me, at my request, to some the seamiest and most unlikely drinking dens I've ever been too - last night included. On his recent trip, my deputy - and soon to be new editor of Sunday Times Travel - Duncan Craig was introduced to Japan's greatest ever rugby player, Demi Sakata.

With skill and expertise and love for their destination like this, it would be rude not to share. So they now run trips to further afield in Asia: to Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. I recommended friends travel with them to Vietnam. They loved it. And, if you knew these friends, you'd know there are few higher recommendations"

A big thank you to everyone who voted for us.