AWARDS

Entry opens early in April 2022 with all details, entry forms and guidance notes included at the five tourism awards websites: • Devon Tourism Awards –www.devontourismawards.org.uk • Cornwall Tourism Awards –www.cornwalltourismawards.co.uk • Dorset Tourism Awards –www.dorsettourismawards.org.uk • Bristol, Bath & Somerset Awards – www.somersettourismawards.org.uk • South West Tourism Excellence Awards – www.southwesttourismawards.org.uk

The region’s tourism awards have continued throughout the pandemic. Should you have a go? Robin Barker, director of awards organiser Services for Tourism, shares his views.

Like many in tourism we thought long and hard back in spring 2020 about whether to continue with the tourism awards, or put them on hold. After much thought and consultation we decided to proceed, and are so glad we did. We had to change just about everything, but industry feedback made it all so worthwhile with our favourite being “Your news was like a bright light at the end of a very long tunnel”. As I write this in November, our judges are in the midst of judging the 2021/22 entrants in readiness for awards events in spring 2022 and the launch of the 2022/23 awards in April 2022. We plan quite a few changes, the most critical being an increased emphasis on responsible, ethical and sustainable tourism and on accessibility and inclusivity. Surveys of entrants tell us the main reasons for entering are: • To provide a marque of quality assurance to our customers • For PR and media coverage • To get independent feedback/ benchmarking for my business • To help motivate and recruit staff There’s also the chance to progress to even greater recognition, with many county winners going on to win in the south west and some representing the region in the national VisitEngland awards. The tourism awards are themselves award-winners, having been awarded ‘Outstanding’ in the Awards TrustMark scheme. To date these are the only awards of any kind in South West England to achieve this accolade. We believe these are what sets the tourism awards apart, and why we hope you’ll be part of them. As stated by Rachel and Matt from the award-winning Ekopod: “We just wanted to send a quick email to say thank you so much to you, the judges and the sponsors for making the awards happen this year. We’re absolutely over the moon to have received the awards we did and can’t really put into words how much it means especially after this year!”