Winners of the North East England Tourism Awards gathered at a special event to officially launch next year’s awards.
All 14 award winners, who were crowned at a ceremony in February, were invited to the special VIP event, held at Life Science Centre, Newcastle, to celebrate their success and to mark the official opening of applications for the 2025 awards.
Amongst the guests were the four national winners from the region from last week’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence. Duncan Wise of Northumberland National Park won Gold for Unsung Hero, whilst Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours picked up the Gold for the second year in a row for Experience of the Year. Blackfriars Restaurant received Silver in the Taste of England category and Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort picked up Bronze once again in the Large Hotel of the Year award.
The Winners’ Event, which was sponsored by Bidfood UK, was an opportunity for businesses to share their experiences of their awards success and to pledge to inspire other businesses in the region to be part of the awards in the future. The event was also supported by the North East Combined Authority (NECA) and Mayor Kim McGuinness.
We're extremely delighted and honoured to be attending tonight's event and celebrating with other North East England Tourism Award winners. Winning a tourism award is incredibly special as it's a mark of quality for not only our customers but also recognition for the passion and hard work of our team. Tonight we have been able to share experiences, showcase ourselves to other businesses, and commit to becoming an ambassador for the awards to encourage more businesses to strive for the best.
I love the North East. We’re a region known for our pride and warm welcome and I know the people of our region agree, it is the best place to visit. We have some great businesses working in tourism, bringing people to our region and celebrating all we have to offer. My mission is to create opportunity across the North East and to make sure we’re shouting about our great place. Culture and tourism are a huge part of my plans to do just that; to create jobs and opportunity and grow the number of people visiting.
It was a privilege to welcome all our winners together under one roof. They reflect the strength of our visitor economy that currently employs more than 63,000 people and contributes £1.6bn into our regional economy. It was fantastic to have NECA’s support and commitment in working with us to achieve our ambitious plans to double the size of our visitor economy over the next decade. We hope the event will not only inspire those in the room to continue to strive for the best but to share their experiences of the awards with their peers. We want to make the 2025 awards a record year for entries, so would encourage all our tourism businesses to apply.
There are 16 categories up for grabs next year including a new category – the International Visitor Award.
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