The World Travel Awards recognise excellence in all aspects of travel services including product range, customer service, company culture and technology.

STA Travel, a leading worldwide travel company specialising in cheap flights, student flights, and lowest price deals & packages, was voted Australasia's leading travel agency for 2007 at the World Travel Awards recently.

Managing Director of STA Travel Australia and New Zealand, David Burns, believes the company was ranked ahead of bigger and more mainstream travel agency groups due to its ongoing commitment to its core youth market.

"What we've always done well at STA Travel is understand Generation Y -- where they want to travel, what they are willing to spend and, most importantly, how they want to interact with a travel agent. By constantly investing in new technologies, we've been able to stay relevant to our market and keep ahead of our competitors."

Recent technology projects include a new multi-million dollar retail booking system, installation of Voice over IP (VOIP) at the national call centre and an expansion of the online team to handle the increase in enquiry from the STA Travel website.

The company's website is also an important component of the STA Travel customer experience. The site recently won an award for "Best Use of Social Media" at the coveted Travolution Awards in the UK for Marketing and innovation for its travel blogs section. A quote from the Awards read "The winner offered a complete service to travellers, using mobile, video and maps within the blog to encourage excellent community participation."

STA Travel has also launched a new mash up called Map My Adventure which allows customers to plan their trip using Google satellite mapping technology.