Silver, Bronze and Highly Commended for Lancashire at the national awards

The winners of the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2016 were revealed at its 27th annual ceremony held last night at Winter Gardens Blackpool. Celebrating excellence across the industry, the prestigious ceremony – held for the first time this year during English Tourism Week – announced 16 winners including Best Tourism Experience, Best Visitor Attraction and Best Large Hotel and this year’s new edition, the Best Dog Friendly Business

Lancashire's Finalists*** received –

• The Cartford Inn Little-Eccleston – Tourism Pub of the Year – SILVER
• La Locanda, Gisburn – Taste of England – BRONZE
• Bay Cycle Way, Morecambe Bay – Tourism Experience of the Year – HIGHLY COMMENDED
• Browsholme Hall and Tithe Barn, Clitheroe – Sustainable Tourism Award – HIGHLY COMMENDED

***Each of the Lancashire finalists was a winner of the Lancashire Tourism Awards, which were held at Winter Gardens Blackpool on 5 November 2015. These awards celebrate the very best of Lancashire's visitor economy businesses and most of the winners then have the chance to go forward to the national Visit England Awards for Excellence.

This year’s Awards featured 80 finalists: 16 Gold winners, 17 Silver winners, 16 Bronze winners and 31 Highly Commended were selected from over 400 entries which represented acclaimed tourism businesses throughout England. Winners were selected by a panel of tourism industry experts chaired by VisitEngland Board Member and Chief Executive of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, John Hoy.

Sally Balcombe, CEO of VisitBritain and VisitEngland said, “The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence – this year hosted at the magnificent Winter Gardens Blackpool – celebrate English tourism champions. These awards are the highest accolade in the industry, recognising the world class tourism experiences that can be found throughout England.  As ever competition has been fierce, with winners from the regions coming through to compete at a national level so my congratulations to all our winners, especially the Gold Award winners who are the standard bearers for English tourism.”

Tourism Minister David Evennett said: “The success of our world-leading tourism industry is due to the passion and dedication of individuals across the country.
“These awards highlight the huge talent we have, and the fantastic contribution winners and nominees have made to the sector, and I congratulate them all.”

Commenting on the Awards, Cllr Gillian Campbell, Deputy Leader of the Council (Tourism, Economic Growth and Jobs) said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have hosted this year’s VisitEngland awards. For the last few years we’ve been banging the drum to tell people that Blackpool is back, and this is a great chance to show the huge amount of regeneration that’s taken place to some of the country’s top tourism leaders. I’d like to pass on my congratulations to all the winners and hope they have enjoyed their time in Blackpool.”

To find out more information on the winners visit: http://www.visitenglandawards.org/about-home/winners/winners-2016