Northumberland County Council - Northumberland businesses encouraged to enter tourism awards

Northumberland businesses encouraged to enter tourism awards

06 Jun 2019 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news

Tourism businesses in Northumberland are being encouraged to enter the new-look North East England Tourism Awards which opened today (Thursday 6 June).

The North East England Tourism Awards celebrate quality, innovation and best practice throughout the region, highlighting the North East’s exciting visitor offering.

The format of the Awards has been tweaked so that they now align more closely with the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, which last year celebrated their 30th year. To mark this, VisitEngland launched the revamped Awards to reflect innovations across England’s tourism industry.

The revamped awards will see new application forms and a different judging system, with a greater focus on experiencing the North East tourism industry first-hand. New categories introduced for tourism businesses to enter include Experience of the Year, International Tourism Award and New Tourism Business Award.

Northumberland picked up more Gold awards than any region at last year’s awards. The county was also named the Best Destination/County of the Year at the British Travel Awards, so there is no better time to showcase the tourism offer in Northumberland.

Cllr Cath Homer, cabinet member for Culture, Arts, Leisure and Tourism for Northumberland County Council, said: “All tourism businesses across Northumberland should look to enter the revamped North East England Tourism Awards.

“Northumberland swept the board at last year’s event and it would be fantastic if we could match that at this year’s awards.

“Since last year’s awards we have launched the Discover our Land campaign which has helped to further shine a light on Northumberland as a visitor destination. We have an amazing story to tell and these awards can help businesses and the county as a whole raise its profile further.

“These awards showcase and celebrate those businesses who help to make Northumberland an unforgettable place to live, work and visit.”
Tourism is a key economic driver for the county with over 10 million visitors coming to Northumberland in 2017.

Applications for the North East England Tourism Awards will close on 9am on Monday 7th October 2019 with the Awards ceremony taking place on Tuesday 24th March 2020. Eligible winners of certain categories will be automatically put forward to the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2020.
More information can be found at www.NorthEastTourismAwards.com.

North East England Tourism Awards 2020 – Categories (new categories highlighted)