An island teenager has been named as the best young travel agent in the British Isles.

Bethany Cooper, 18, a travel consultant and foreign exchange expert at Island Travel beat more than 100 other nominees at the industry awards in London.

Bethany was praised by judges for her work ethic ’and her commitment to providing excellent customer service’.

Rikki Dunnage and Edward Cox, owners of Island Travel said they are both ’so proud’ of Bethany.

Rikki added: ’The category Bethany won looks at how contribution to the company and how she’s developed as a young agent.

’For us as a company, the recognition has been fantastic, we’ve had people contacting us saying how well Bethany has done.

’But more than anything, we’re just really proud of her. We’ve seen her grow since she started and from there to now, that difference is massive.’

Bethany said that she’d been left speechless by her win and how, despite the enormity of the occasion, she didn’t feel nervous on the night.

’I didn’t expect to win it, so I wasn’t nervous and then when they announced it, I was just so happy.

’The support from Rikki and Ed has been great and they’re really easy to get on with.’

Bethany has also recently been promoted at Island Travel to becoming a supervisor with Rikki saying the company is taking on more staff.

He explained: ’It’s kind of gone full circle now, with people coming back to the high street. When the internet got bigger, everyone was doing holidays and foreign exchange online.

’But then with online holiday companies going bankrupt, people want that peace of mind and everything we sell is financially protected, so that’s why I think people have come back to the high street.’

Given the fact that Island Travel has been going for only five years and that Bethany has only been in the industry for just over two years, her UK wide recognition is even more remarkable.