Four North East tourism businesses have been selected to represent the region at the national tourism awards.
Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort, Langley Castle Hotel, Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours and Kidlandlee Holiday Cottages are all amongst nominated finalists at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.
NewcastleGateshead Initiative is also in the running to scoop a top prize in the new TXGB Trailblazer Award for its New Adventures website.
The Visit England National Tourism Awards for Excellence will be on 7 June at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London where Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be announced at a black tie event.
The four nominees were selected after winning Gold at the North East England Tourism Awards in March.
In the Resilience and Innovation category, Langley Castle Hotel, Northumberland will be taking on Healing Manor Hotel, Lincolnshire and St Luke’s Bombed Out Church C.I.C., Merseyside.
Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort, Co. Durham is up for the Large Hotel of the Year against Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort, Wiltshire and Titanic Hotel Liverpool, Merseyside.
In the Experience of the Year, the Grey Seal and Seabird Cruise by Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours, Northumberland is competing against Peak District Walking Experience, myGuidedWalks, and Make Your Own Gin Experience, Shed 1 Gin Distillery, Cumbria.
Kidlandlee Holiday Cottages, Northumberland is in the running for Self Catering Accommodation of the Year against Eaton Manor Country Estate, Shropshire and The Dovecote Barns, North Yorkshire.
NGI has also been nominated for the TXGB Trailblazer award for the North of Tyne Combined Authority funded New Adventures Project which recognises businesses that work with TXGB, VisitEngland’s booking platform. The New Adventures project – www.newadventures.org.uk was launched last year to enable people to understand the diversity of our tourism offer and directly book brilliant experiences in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland in one place.
Sarah Green, chief executive of NewcastleGateshead Initiative said: “It is brilliant to see four tourism businesses from the North East recognised nationally in these prestigious awards. This region has an incredible tourism offer which we need to shout about. These awards give us an opportunity to demonstrate the quality and diversity of our offer on a national stage.
“In the North East, we are delighted to be recognised by Visit England as the only place to receive funding to pilot a new regional approach to supporting the sector. We have set ambitious targets to double the size of the sector in the next ten years offering more jobs, decarbonising the offer, ensuring an accessible and inclusive welcome for all and creating year-round demand.
“To do this, we need to grow our stock of innovative tourism businesses. The businesses recognised in the national awards demonstrate that we have a strong platform to build on and are a credit to our region.
“I am also delighted that the New Adventures campaign funded by North of Tyne Combined Authority has been recognised as a national exemplar. The ability to book a wide range of activities online before travelling is critical to delivering a good visitor experience.
“This campaign has enabled us to curate experiences over a wider geography demonstrating the North East’s distinctive coast, country and city offer reaching new audiences, and giving existing visitors more reasons to return.”
Jason Adams, Managing Director at Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort, Co. Durham, which is nominated for Large Hotel of the Year, said, “”We are delighted to represent the region at the national Visit England Awards for excellence, after our Large Hotel of the Year win at the North East Tourism Awards, earlier this year.
“I am proud of every team member who plays a part in delivering exceptional experiences for our guests at Rockliffe Hall and being recognised nationally would be a testament to their hard work and commitment.”
Margaret Livingstone-Evans, Executive General Manager, Langley Castle, Northumberland, which is nominated for the Resilience and Innovation Award said, “Being a national finalist in the English tourism industry’s top awards is just a fantastic achievement for a hotel of our size and is testimony to all the hard work that has gone into our product development and creative ideas.
“We have to fight hard to get into the spotlight, given our size and rural location, so we are delighted the judges have recognised the tremendous effort of the entire team. We do not know which of the three possible awards we have won in our category, but whether it is gold, silver or bronze, it will help demonstrate the Northumberland tourism sector’s commitment to excellence and innovation.”
Applications for North East Tourism Awards 2024, will be open following the national awards in June.
For more information on the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence please visit see Finalists VisitBritain