October 31 sees the deadline for entries for the annual Cotswolds Tourism Awards

As the peak summer tourism season comes to a close, Cotswolds Tourism – in conjunction with Cotswold Life – is launching its annual hunt for the very best of the local tourism industry, in preparation for its annual tourism awards.

The Cotswolds Tourism Awards were created to celebrate the hard work and energy that our tourism businesses providers put in to an industry that delivers around £1bn per annum to the local economy. The 2015 awards will be announced at the end of 2014 and, for the third year running, will feed through local business winners to the national VisitEngland Excellence awards.

Sally Graff of Cotswolds Tourism Partnership says, “Businesses who feel that they are the cream of the crop, having excelled in visitor experience, satisfaction and achieved overall great results in 2014, are invited to enter – or possibly recommend other businesses. Categories cover everything that you might expect, from B&Bs to events. The Awards are well established now and winning gives our businesses a hotline to the high profile National Awards.”

The deadline for entry for the awards is October 31 and full details, including the application forms, are available from www.cotswolds.com/awards.

Judging will take place in November and the winners will be announced in December. Cotswold Gold winners will go forward to the Visit England National awards in January 2015.

Follow in the footsteps of our 2014 winners – come forward and show us why you are special and deserve one of our awards. Alternatively, if you know of a tourism business that has achieved above and beyond this year and deserves to be considered, then do get in touch and nominate them.

Sarah Parker of Kelmscott Manor, one of the 2014 winners, comments: “We were delighted to receive the Cotswolds Tourism 2014 Gold Award for Small Visitor Attraction. It was wonderful to receive recognition for the hard work of all the team, including our 100+ volunteers. It also gave us an opportunity to showcase Kelmscott Manor to the public, reinforcing the high quality experience which we aspire to offer to all our visitors. Our award has also enabled us to demonstrate and validate our important work to funders, ensuring we safeguard Kelmscott Manor for future generations.”

Lucy Wright, manager of Gloucester Visitor Information Centre, adds, “Gloucester Visitor Information Centre has won numerous local and regional awards, but this year we actually achieved the highest accolade at the Visit England Excellence Awards – Visitor Information Provider of the Year. All our staff members thrive on success and everyone understands that we need to be at the top of our game to succeed. Winning gold at the Cotswold Tourism Awards in 2014 allowed the team to put forward an entry for the national tourism awards. Entering local/regional/national tourism awards not only helps recognise the hard work that you and your team does but also encourages you to raise your game in terms of quality and what you actually offer your visitors when they visit a tourist destination.”

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There are 15 categories for the 2015 Cotswolds Tourism Awards and they are as follows:

• Large Hotel of the Year

• Small Hotel of the Year

• Bed and Breakfast/Guest Accommodation of the Year

• Self Catering Holiday Provider of the Year

• Holiday Park/Holiday Village of the Year

• Large Visitor Attraction of the Year

• Small Visitor Attraction of the Year

• Taste of England Award

• Tourism Pub of the Year

• Tourism Experience of the Year,

• Tourism Event of the Year

• Visitor Information Provider of the Year

• Access for All Tourism Award

• Sustainable Tourism Award

• Business Tourism Award – sponsored by Cotswold Life

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For more information please visit www.cotswolds.com/awards or email cotswoldstourism@cotswold.gov.uk