On Saturday night January the 12th more than 600 people gathered at Paramount Conference & Event Venue in Woodbridge to honor Russian Community leaders who this year earned respect and recognition by being true citizens of their  country and the community in which they live and work as well as  being a dynamically developing business and not-for-profit institutions.
Russian Business Gala has been held since 1999. The ceremony is the most recognizable community event that attracts high media interest and attended by prominent provincial and local politicians. The organizers have had the pleasure to greet the leader of the Ontario Conservatives John Tory, former mayor of Toronto Mel Lastman, Chief of Toronto Police Service William Blair, and the members of diplomatic and consular corps.
Entrepreneur of the Year Award this year went to YYZ Travel AmEx. YYZ Travel American Express has provided travel services to nearly every Torontonian who’s ever been to Russia, countries of CIS, or Middle East in the past 21 years: over 200 000 people have already been YYZ Travel’s customers since 1986.
“When we started with those, we didn’t know we would expand to all over the world offering everything from car-rental to exclusive yacht trips”, says Vicky Zaltsman, the Executive President of YYZ Travel AmEx.
YYZ Travel Group Int’l was established in 1986 to specialize in business and cultural travel to Russia and Eastern Europe with 3 offices located in the province of Ontario, Canada. In 1991 we also founded an affiliated company, SVO Tours and Cruises, to serve in the areas of inbound and outbound tourism on the territory of CIS. Steady growth culminated in joining the American Express Global Network in 2001 which positively contributed to the position of the company on the travel market. By now YYZ Travel have grown to employ 70 people speaking 15 languages collectively and specializing from corporate travel, vacations and group travel to extraordinary customized tours around the world.
Apart from our being a dynamically developing business institution, we are true citizens of our country and the community in which we live and work. We support and endorse a variety of non-profit organizations and community service efforts. Our people work together to contribute towards the social well-being of people both internally and externally.
In 1989 YYZ Travel Management accompanied the Canadian Trade Delegation to   Moscow led by the Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for the historical inaugural meeting, where fourteen scientific, cultural and environmental protocols were signed by the two counties.
In 1997 our company was the first to introduce direct weekly non-stop charter passenger flight between Toronto and Moscow through an exclusive agreement with Aeroflot Russian International Airlines.
In 2005, responding to the international appeal of Deputies of the Parliament of North Ossetia “Let us protect the children and the future from terror!" - we supported the children held hostage in Beslan.
In the course of past 21 years of operation, YYZ Travel American Express has grown to be in the top 100 largest Canadian travel companies, through a best practices approach to service delivery, cost management, business operations, and a business diversification strategy in terms of lines of business.
YYZ Travel American Express is an active member of International Air Transport Association (IATA), Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO), Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA), Cruise Lines International Organization (CLIA), SKAL International and Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), CERBA (Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association).

For more information please contact:
Katherine Balabanova
MarCom Manager
YYZ Travel AmEx
Tel: 905 660 7000
Cell: 416 822 40 52
balkatya@yyztravel.com