Abigail shares this latest news from Visit Isle of Wight. Ed
A plethora of Isle of Wight tourism businesses have been awarded some of the region’s highest accolades at the Beautiful South’s Awards for Excellence held last night (24th November 2016) at the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl near Southampton.
The annual awards, organised by Tourism South East and sponsored by Shepherd Neame recognise businesses in a range of tourism categories, from Glamping Business of the Year and Tourism Event of the Year to Café/tea room of the Year and Dog Friendly Business of the Year.
Raising standards in tourism
Held to recognise exceptional levels of customer service and dedication to raising standards in the tourism industry, the ceremony is the event of the year for the South East’s leading tourism businesses, with 60+ award-winners presented amidst a great evening of celebrations and networking for 250+ industry professionals.
Competition was fierce with a record 179 entries in 20 categories. Finalists are awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze at the Awards Celebration event.
Four Golds and a bronze
The Isle of Wight brought home a huge haul – Gold award winners were Isle of Wight Monkey Haven (Small Visitor Attraction of the Year – pictured), Tom’s Eco Lodge (Glamping Business of the Year), Woodside Bay (Holiday Park/Holiday Village of the Year) and Tapnell Manor (Self Catering Holiday Property of the Year).
Bronze winners were Visit Isle of Wight Visitor Centre (Visitor Information Provider of the Year).
Tapnell Farm/Tom’s Eco Lodge won High Commended in the Sustainable Tourism Award category.
Recognition a great ‘head start’
David Thornton, CEO, Visit Isle of Wight, who was at the awards ceremony said:
“It was brilliant to see the Island dominate at the 2016 Beautiful South Awards.
“We have a fantastic range of high quality tourism businesses on the Isle of Wight and this recognition provides us with a great head start on 2017 marketing, which begins with our ‘Romantic Short Breaks’ campaign for late winter and early spring.”
