After an exhaustive search, World Travel Awards has revealed the nominees for its Europe Gala Ceremony 2014. Hundreds of entrants have been whittled down to the few who will proceed to the voting stage of the annual event, with industry professionals and members of the travelling public now invited to vote for nominee companies of their choice.

The results of the vote will be revealed at the Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso, Athens, on August 2nd, where industry stakeholders from across the region will gather for the prestigious event.

The red-carpet evening is being held in partnership with the Greek Tourism Ministry, the Greek National Tourism Organisation, the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises and Divani Collection Hotels, and will include a gala dinner, top entertainment as well as the presentation of the most coveted awards in the industry.

Guests will also have the opportunity to participate in a full itinerary over the weekend, a 'journey through Greece', giving an insight into both its illustrious history and its vibrant contemporary culture.

World Travel Awards President Graham Cooke explained: "We have scoured the European continent to select the finest travel, tourism and hospitality organisations for inclusion in our list of 2014 nominees. Now it is over to you, our voters, to select the companies you deem most deserving of acclaim."

He added: "With the winners set to be announced in August, now is the time to make your mark on this prestigious event."

In the leading categories, Lufthansa will defend its title of Europe's Leading Airline from challengers including Iberia, TAP Portugal, Air France, KLM and British Airways, while Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt all go head-to-head in the fight for the title of Europe's Leading Car Rental Company.

In hospitality, keenly contested categories such as Europe's Leading New Hotel, which will this year see entries from Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg, InterContinental Davos, InterContinental Marseille - Hotel Dieu, King George, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Rosewood London, Shangri-La Bosphorus, The Alpina Gstaad, The London EDITION, and W Verbier.

Niki Fotiou, Marketing & PR Manager, Divani Collection Hotels, added: "We are delighted to welcome World Travel Awards to Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso and to Athens, Greece, for the first time. With voting now open the build up to the event has truly begun. Best of luck to all the Europe nominees and see you in August."

The full list of categories can be seen here.

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Voting opens ahead of World Travel Awards Europe Gala Ceremony 2014