Emirates and British Airways shared the airline honours, Le Meridien scored a double hotels triumph, and Royal Caribbean cruised to a repeat success at the 2001 Travel Intelligence Middle East 'Achieving Industry Excellence' Awards held in Dubai last month.

The annual showpiece, sponsored by MasterCard International, wsa held at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, Dubai.

The event - co-sponsored by the British Tourist Authority and Aramex - also saw Emirates Holidays, BTI UAE, Avis, Holidays by DNATA, JW Marriott Dubai, Emirates Towers and Royal Mirage grabbing coveted regional travel trade 'Oscars'.

'These are exciting times for the regional travel trade,' said Kate Rouse, publisher of Travel Intelligence Middle East, the organisers of the Awards.

Emirates captured three out of five airline 'Oscars', for best short haul airline, best business class airline, and best economy class airline, while British Airways was honoured with awards for best long haul, and best first class carrier. Le Meridien had double cause to celebrate, after being named best Middle East and best international hotel group.

In the other hotel categories, the JW Marriott won the award for best conference facilities Middle East, the Royal Mirage Dubai collected the award for best resort hotel in the Middle East, and Emirates Towers was named best business hotel Middle East.

Celebrating its first success at the Awards, Avis was named best international car rental company, while Royal Caribbean Cruises was honoured for the second consecutive year as best international cruise line.