VisitEngland has today, 15 April, announced the finalists for the tourism industry’s national Awards for Excellence.
It is a bumper year for Northumberland, with three of its businesses making the shortlist, including Wooler’s Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery, Alnwick’s The Tempus hotel and popular pub The Kirkstyle Inn and Sportsman’s Rest hoping to bring home the Small Visitor Attraction, Small Hotel and Pub of the Year awards respectively.
Further along the Tyne, Newcastle’s The Catalyst, the landmark business centre based on the former Newcastle breweries site and ‘Europe’s oldest dining room’ Blackfriars will be fending off national competition to grab the Business Events Venue and Taste of England awards.
All of the finalists were awarded the Gold award at March’s Destination North East England Tourism Awards with LNER, the official regional heats for the national finals, following a rigorous judging process. The national finals will be held in June at Aerospace Bristol, under the wings of Concorde Alpha Foxtrot, the iconic supersonic passenger jet.
The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence have been championing the best in England’s tourism industry for more than 35 years and celebrate quality, innovation, best practice and exceptional customer service. Finalists represent the very highest standards across accessibility, accommodation, attractions, experiences, food and drink, and business events, showcasing the strength and diversity of English tourism.
The region’s finalists will be competing alongside 48 other businesses drawn from more than 360 winners at 21 regional finals around the country. The North East attracted the highest number of entries for its awards out of all the official programmes across England, demonstrating the depth and breadth of the region’s visitor offer.
I'm over the moon that five of our region's wonderful visitor economy businesses will be competing on the national stage and showcasing the fantastic visitor offer we have here in the region. Championing excellence and quality is key to our ambitions to double the value of the sector and these businesses are at the centre of that story. Recognition at both our regional awards and nationally by VisitEngland sends a powerful message to visitors, that our region is ready to deliver authentic experiences, serve up delicious flavours and provide world-class places to stay and explore for guests around the world.
These awards honour the very best businesses and individuals in tourism, who are the driving force in an industry that delivers growth to local economies across England. I thank them for their dedicated service, congratulate them on achieving finalist status and wish them every success. Entries for the 2026-2027 Destination North East England Tourism Awards are set to open in the coming weeks with businesses of all sizes encouraged to enter. The Awards have been operated on behalf of the region by England’s first Destination Development Partnership Pilot Destination North East England. Destination North East England was a UK Government funded pilot led by NewcastleGateshead Initiative on behalf of the region, working with delivery partners Visit Northumberland and Visit County Durham and in partnership with all seven local authorities to unlock the growth potential of the tourism industry. The soon to launch regional body Experience North East England will build on the pilot to help achieve the region’s ambitions of doubling the value of the visitor economy.
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