West Midlands tourism stars are crowned

Shrewsbury Food Festival took silver in the tourism event/festival of the year category.

Gold in business events venue of the year went to The Belfry Hotel and Resort at Sutton Coldfield with Birmingham's International Convention Centre getting silver

Riverside Cabins at Shrewsbury struck gold in the ethical, responsible and sustainable tourism award, silver in the camping, glamping, holiday park and small serviced accommodation of the year category and bronze in self-catering accommodationof the year with gold in that category going to Eaton Manor Country Estate at Church Stretton.

The NEC Group won silver in the ethical, responsible and sustainable tourism category. In the large visitor attraction of the year category the National Exhibition Centre won silver.

Gold in the resilience and innovation award went to Ironbridge View Townhouse at Ironbridge

Organisations from across the region’s accommodation, arts, food and drink, visitor attraction and heritage sectors were recognised at the event held at Grand Station in Wolverhampton.

The ceremony celebrated a memorable year for the West Midlands’ tourism sector thanks to major events including Coventry UK City of Culture, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Birmingham 2022 Festival.

The event was hosted by Shazia Mirza, an award-winning British stand-up comedian and writer from Birmingham, with further entertainment from West Midlands-based musical collective, The Peaky Blinders.

The awards are supported by the West Midlands Growth Company, the region’s official destination promotion agency.

Andrew Lovett, chairman of the West Midlands Tourism and Hospitality Advisory Board, said: “The West Midlands Tourism Awards gave us the perfect opportunity to look back on a momentous year for our region and recognise the contribution that our fantastic sector has made in enhancing the West Midlands’ global profile.

“Together, we congratulated the staff and owners at visitor attractions, accommodation and hospitality venues, who have helped to highlight to a record number of people from around the world the breadth, depth and distinctiveness of our tourism offer.

“This provides an excellent platform on which to build, as tourist volumes continue to recover to their pre-pandemic levels. We acknowledge that there remain ongoing challenges for the sector to address, but we saw at this year’s awards ceremony that we have the talent and ambition to overcome these and continue to make the West Midlands an exciting and popular visitor destination.”

The award winners (gold) and runners-up (silver) from the 2023 West Midlands Tourism Awards will automatically qualify for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, to be held later this year, where venues will be in with a chance to be shortlisted and recognised as national champions.