Bamburgh Castle has become one of the first tourist organisations in the country to achieve a new ‘ring of confidence’ industry standard to welcome back visitors safely.
The ‘We’re Good to go’ industry standard and supporting mark was launched by VisitEngland yesterday in partnership with the national tourist organisations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to give confidence to tourists as the sector prepares to reopen.
The standard recognises Bamburgh Castle is adhering to Government and public health guidance and has in place protocols including social distancing and cleanliness. It also shows that the castle has carried out Covid-19 risk assessments with processes in place to allow people to visit its grounds and staterooms safely when the castle reopens on Monday July 6th.
William Watson Armstrong, whose family own Bamburgh Castle, said: “We welcome VisitEngland’s new industry standard which gives people the confidence to know they will be visiting an attraction that puts their safety – and that of our team – first, and that has a national ‘ring of confidence’ around it.
“Our health and safety team have been working closely with external specialists carrying out stringent risk assessments and installing new safety measures so people can enter our gates safely while still enjoying a unique visitor experience to England’s finest coastal castle.
“It is excellent to have this official affirmation from VisitEngland that the covid-secure measures we have introduced match national industry standards giving us and our visitors and staff peace of mind that we’re good to go here at Bamburgh Castle.”
VisitEngland director Patricia Yates said: “With millions of jobs and local economies across the country reliant on tourism it is essential that businesses can get up and running as soon as the respective Government advice allows to capture the peak British summer season.
“We want visitors to be able to enjoy their holidays and to support businesses to be confident they have the correct procedures in place. Our priority is to make sure tourism rebounds to once again become one of the most successful sectors of the UK economy and this ‘ring of confidence’ is a crucial step on the industry’s road to rebuilding.”
Alongside the industry standard is a new public information campaign Know Before You Go launched by VisitEngland which sign-posts information to visitors as restrictions are lifted to check what is safe to do and when and to information about destinations and available services before travelling.
Find out more about planning your safe visit to Bamburgh Castle here.