Five travel and tourism businesses scooped awards at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2023 on Wednesday night.
Two even took gold at the ceremony, which was held at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London and was hosted by Alex Polizzi best known for TV programmes such as The Hotel Inspector. Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours and Kidlandlee Holiday Cottages took golds for the experience of the year and self catering provider respectively.
Langley Castle Hotel took silver in resilience and innovation, while New Adventures, Tyne & Wear & Northumberland took silver in the TXGB trailblazer award. Rockliffe Hall in County Durham took bronze in the large hotel of the year award.
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The awards aim to champion the very best of the country’s tourism industry celebrating quality, innovation, best practice and exceptional customer service. Finalists from our region had already won golds at the North East Tourism Awards held in March at Newcastle Civic Centre.
In a post on its Facebook page, gold winner Kidlandlee Holiday Cottages wrote: "What an amazing evening and look what we are bringing back to Northumberland! Can’t believe we are Self Catering Holiday Cottages of the year 2023 for England!"
"It was amazing to represent our beautiful county along with Langley Castle Hotel Rockliffe Hall Hotel Golf & Spa, Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours, and between us we are bringing back a bronze, silver and two golds! Go Northumberland! Yay!"
Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours paid tribute to its staff and customers in a Facebook post, which read: "We are overjoyed to announce that Serenity has won the prestigious Visit England Gold Award for Experience of the Year! To be nominated for this esteemed award was an immense honor in itself, but to actually win it is truly beyond words."
Andrew Fox, chair of Visit Northumberland, said: "A massive congratulations to Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours, Kidlandlee Holiday Cottages, Langley Castle Hotel and New Adventures who all achieved fantastic results. Competing against 48 finalists from across the country, this is a huge achievement for Northumberland and shows the excellent standards of service and exceptional experiences the county has to offer. We are thrilled that this has been recognised at a national level."
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