Tourism five bid for national gold

Five Lancashire Tourism Award winners 2014/15 have been named as finalists in the prestigious Visit England Awards for Excellence 2015.

The glittering awards ceremony is being held on Monday 11 May at the Sage Gateshead.

Lancashire Tourism Award winners who are now finalist in the national Visit England Awards for Excellence 2015 are: Tourism Event of the Year, Vintage by the Sea, The Midland, Morecambe; Taste of England Award, The Parkers Arms, Newton in Bowland; Tourism Pub of the Year, Freemasons at Wiswell, Clitheroe; Tourism Experience of the Year, St Annes Beach Huts, Lytham and Access for All Tourism Award, Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool.

Ruth Connor, chief executive of Marketing Lancashire said: “Marketing Lancashire is extremely proud to announce that five Lancashire Tourism Awards winners are now heading to Gateshead in May to represent the county at the national Visit England Awards for Excellence.

"Individually, they are at the top of their game but importantly for Lancashire they are ambassadors for the county ‘where life feels good’; where some of the best events, best food and drink and best attractions combine to attract over 63 million visitors a year. They have our most sincere congratulations on their great achievement to date and our very best wishes and support, as they continue on their journey towards gold in Gateshead.”

The VisitEngland Awards attracted a total of 345 applications and the Lancashire finalists will have to wait until the awards ceremony to find out which award they will receive.

All finalists are guaranteed to receive either a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Highly Commended Award.

In 2014, Lancashire's national winners included: The Parkers Arms, Silver in the Taste of England category; Sancastle Waterpark, Silver in Access For All category; Bleasdale Cottages, Silver in Sustainable Tourism category; Visit Garstang Centre, Highly Commended in Visitor Information Provider category; Visit Blackpool/Blackpool Resort Pass, Highly Commended in Tourism EXperience category.

Commenting on this year's finalists James Berresford, chief executive of VisitEngland said: “It’s been another successful year for our Excellence Awards as we’ve received hundreds of applications of an extremely high standard. "That’s why all the finalists should be incredibly proud that they’ve been short-listed against such tough competition. I’d like to congratulate all the finalists who now represent the top five in their category in England and wish them all the very best of luck on Awards night at the Sage Centre in Gateshead - a spectacular venue to celebrate the industry’s best.”