NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- John Mullen, CEO and founder of Apple Vacations, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Thursday's Travel Weekly Readers Choice Awards ceremony held at The Pierre Hotel in New York.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually by Travel Weekly to selected individuals who have positively impacted the travel industry and who have developed their companies into profitable, well-respected brands known worldwide for their quality and service.

"I am honored to receive this award," said Mr. Mullen. "I am fortunate that I have such a world-class team of employees, including those at Atkinson & Mullen, Apple Vacations, AMStar, AMResorts and USA3000 Airlines. Their hard work and loyalty have helped me bring life to a vertically integrated vacation company. I am more excited now about the future of my company than I was almost 40 years ago when we started as a small travel agency."

After serving in the U.S. Army, Mr. Mullen attended Temple University's night program and subsequently began his career in the airline industry with United Airlines and later Lufthansa. In 1969, he opened his own travel agency comprising of three employees in Drexel Hill, Penn., specializing in group tours.

During the 1970s, his operation continued to grow by providing wholesale travel vacations to Hawaii, Cancun and the Caribbean exclusively to travel agents. Today, Apple Vacations is one of the largest and fully integrated travel companies in the United States with more than 6,000 employees and offices in Chicago, San Jose and Jamaica. Apple Vacations 2006 product line includes Mexico, Caribbean, Hawaii, Europe and Ski.

Additionally, Apple Vacations was nominated for Readers Choice Awards in six categories and won the award for "Best Tour Operator to Mexico." The award recipients, representing the "best of the best of the travel industry," were chosen by readers of Travel Weekly, the national newspaper of the travel industry.

About Apple Vacations: In 2007, Apple Vacations will operate more than 175 winter and 100 summer Apple dedicated flights each week on a national basis to more than 40 beach destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. Additionally, Apple was recently been honored with Recommend Magazine's 2006 Reader's Choice Award for "Best Tour Operator to the Caribbean" and "Best Travel Agent Support."

CONTACT: Karah Giefer of Apple Vacations, +1-847-631-2433,
kgiefer@applevac.com

Web site: http://www.applevacations.com/