The Silver Travel Awards has made a number of changes to its 2020 awards due to the coronavirus.

The awards will now be held on Tuesday 15 September 2020, will official invitations to follow.

The event will continue to be hosted by Gyles Brandreth at the Wallace Collection in London.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: “As a celebration of all that’s best in travel for the over 50s, we’re keen to create an Awards evening that you, as well as our Silver Travel members and everyone involved with the event, can look forward to with certainty – especially as our previously scheduled date of 25 June is looking increasingly difficult to guarantee.”

Consumer voting for the Awards has also been extended to 31 May 2020.

Voting is free, straight-forward and they could win one of eight travel prizes to be taken in late 2020 and into 2021.

According to the awards, voting has got off to a record start with over 120,000 votes cast so far.

The deadline for entries into the Silver-i Awards for Innovation has also been extended to 31 May 2020. It is a free-entry opportunity to show industry judges, in just 500 words, how a company has excelled in the last 12 months in one (or all) of the following areas:

• Breakthrough– This might be a new product range or holiday offering tailored specifically for the mature market, or it could be the development of an existing product which makes it more relevant and accessible to older travellers.
• Footprint– This is an award for responsible or sustainable travel. It could be a new greener product, or a change that has been made to an existing product or service which has made it more environmentally friendly. In either case, the sustainable credentials need to be relevant to older travellers.
• Paper– Our research shows that older travellers still favour print and traditional media. The Paper award will recognise the travel company that has created an outstanding print advertisement, specifically designed for the 50+ demographic, and that has been published in UK newspapers or magazines in the last year – consumer or trade.