VisitEngland announces Awards for Excellence 2020 finalists – including two Nottinghamshire businesses

VisitEngland has announced the finalists who will go forward to compete for the tourism industry’s annual national Awards for Excellence.

Applications were put forward for national judging from businesses across England including hotels, self-catering accommodation providers, B&Bs, glamping operators, attractions, restaurants, pubs, museums, and conference centres.

The 53 finalists will now go on to compete in 15 core categories at this year’s awards, from the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award, the Taste of England Award to Self Catering Accommodation of the Year and Small Visitor Attraction of the Year. There will also be four special awards, including the Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Award. All finalists are invited to attend an online virtual event on Monday 17 August when the winners are set to be announced.

VisitEngland Chief Executive Sally Balcombe said:

“These awards celebrate businesses and individuals in tourism across England who have exceeded expectations and delivered excellence during the last 18 months and it is fantastic to see such an outstanding list of finalists.

“The impressive list reflects the sheer scale of innovation, quality and experiences across our tourism landscape and I congratulate all the finalists and wish them the very best of luck.

“Millions of jobs and local economies depend on tourism and this year’s awards are also a timely opportunity to acknowledge the determination and dedication of tourism businesses across the country who have worked extremely hard to reopen and welcome visitors back safely.”

The Awards champion the very best of the country’s tourism industry celebrating quality, innovation and best practice. This year’s Awards aligned with 18 local competitions around the country, with winners automatically put forward for the national awards.

Robert Dixon, interim Chief Executive of Marketing Nottingham, said:

“We are delighted to have not just one but two of Nottingham’s local tourism businesses making the final shortlist for VisitEngland’s Awards for Excellence 2020.

Nottingham’s finalist for Experience of the Year, Ezekial Bone’s Robin Hood Town Tour, is an immersive and theatrical way to learn all about the legend of Robin Hood and Nottingham’s fascinating history, while our finalist for the Business Events Venue of the Year is the wonderful NTU Events and Conferencing, which offers a diverse, high quality and flexible range of packages to suit any requirement. Both of these businesses have a very strong offer and we are delighted to see them making the finals in this national competition. We wish them the very best of luck!”

Posted on 30 July 2020

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Sophie Milne

A member of the Marketing and Communications team at Marketing NG, Sophie manages press and PR. This includes writing and distributing press releases, arranging FAM trips, liaising with the media to gain press coverage for Nottingham/shire and Marketing NG, monitoring the news and ensuring colleagues are kept up to date with news stories and doing media interviews.