This week's TravelAge west magazine, the leading trade magazine for travel agents and the travel industry in the 14 western states, announced the 2009 Trendsetter awards as the feature article on the cover of its magazine. Among those honored, Marc R Kassouf and PRIDE Travel were awarded Best Community Service –runner up, for their exemplary and continued contributions to the Center of Long Beach. The Center, which provides extensive community and health programs to the local and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer community, has been the beneficiary of Marc's and PRIDE Travel's contributions individually and as a company for almost a decade. Contributions have helped the non-profit charitable organization raise in excess of $100,000 to supplement its annual budget enabling programs such as youth suicide prevention, health awareness and disease prevention, counseling and mentorship, elder-care, and numerous other local programs benefitting the community.
The trendsetter award for best community involvement was conferred at the black tie annual TravelAge West WAVE awards ceremony June 4th at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. The travel industry's top executives and experts were in attendance recognizing the best of the best in the industry. "Being able to personally meet and talk with industry moguls, such as Vicki Freed, was phenomenal," said an excited Samuel Nathan DePetris, COO of PRIDE Travel and long-time volunteer at the Center, adding that "being invited to dine with them at the awards benefit dinner was also inspiring." Accepting the award for PRIDE Travel was Marc Kassouf, its co-owner and CEO. Mr. Kassouf was quick to note that "although the award is awarded to one agent, the effort and contributions of Pride Travel's community service program is a partnership: most of the credit truly belongs to my co-owner, and manager Nathan DePetris, without whom none of this would have been possible." As a token of recognition, the award's sponsor Celebrity Cruises bestowed a seven night cruise for two to Alaska on one of its ships plying those waters. Mr. Kassouf and Mr. DePetris have booked a Tracy Arm Fjord cruise June of 2010 to celebrate this accomplishment. Although they have sailed on a total of ten Alaskan cruises combined, Tracy Arm has eluded them to date and they are looking forward to further enhancing their first-hand experience of the varied and exotic Alaskan itineraries available in order to better serve PRIDE Travel's clients.
"Celebrity and Azamara cruises chose to sponsor this particular Trendsetter Award due to its congruency with our company's own community relations and charitable and philanthropic efforts," said Scott Clifton, director of sales, West, for Celebrity and Azamara. "Overall, at Royal Caribbean, we've always believed that being a good business starts with being a good neighbor."
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About Pride Travel®
Pride Travel of Long Beach, California is a full service agency specializing in cruise, tour package, villa, and condo rentals. We also offer our community the full breadth of travel products and expertise. While we cater to the needs of Gays and Lesbians in the LGBTQ community, we are 'hetero friendly'™ and frequently book individuals, couples, and families with children on trips and vacations worldwide. Pride Travel is an award-winning agency that has been recognized for our active participation and contributions to our local and LGBTQ communities. We also hold numerous travel industry certifications and accreditations, as well as official certification by destination and country visitors' bureaus; we are active members and certified by the Travel Institute, the Cruise Line Industry Association, and the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. Original travel articles and content is contributed regularly and distributed at our blog,
http://blog.pridetravelonline.com PRIDE Travel's media page can be located at
http://www.expertclick.com/19-3675 . For more details about our credentials, please visit our website at www.pridetravelonline.com and click on About Us or contact Mr. Marc R. Kassouf, Owner & CEO, at 562.432.3888 or via email at
media2@pridetravelonline.com. Pride Travel, Mr. Kassouf and Mr. S. Nathan DePetris, Owner & COO, welcome your inquiries regarding interviews, speaking engagements, and other media collaboration
For more details about our credentials, please visit our website at www.pridetravelonline.com and click on About Us or call at 562.432.3888.
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About Travel Age West TravelAge West is the leading trade magazine for travel agents and the travel industry in the 14 western states. Serving its 26,000 readers for 40 years, the biweekly magazine is a main source of news and product information for the region's agents and travel executives. TravelAge West is a part of Northstar Travel Media LLC, a worldwide provider of information, news and data for the travel and hospitality industry. In addition to TravelAge West and Family Getaways, Northstar's portfolio of directories, periodicals and destination information services includes Travel Weekly, Hotel and Travel Index Worldwide, BTP24, Official Meeting Facilities Guide, Intelliguide Corporate, STAR Service Online, Weissmann Reports, Meetings and Conventions, T&E and Travel Professional.
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