Northumberland has been nominated for the Best UK Holiday County/Destination in the prestigious 2016 British Travel Awards (BTAs). The winners will be determined by the public, who have until 30 September to cast their vote.
The ‘Best UK Holiday County/Destination’ category is particularly strong this year, with Northumberland up against five other nominees: Cornwall, Devon, Pembrokeshire, Somerset and Yorkshire. Once again, Northumberland is the only county in the North East to be nominated, so it is hoped the whole North East region will get behind Northumberland to bring the Gold ‘up north’!
The British Travel Awards are considered the benchmark for excellence when it comes to finding out who really is the best in the travel industry. The campaign for Northumberland to become the ‘Best UK County/Destination’ is being led by Northumberland Tourism in partnership with Active Northumberland. They believe this year will be third time lucky for Northumberland. The county scooped Silver awards in both 2014 and 2015, narrowly missing out to the reigning champion and long-standing tourism giant Cornwall.
Jude Leitch, director of Northumberland Tourism, said: “We are thrilled to once again be nominated in the British Travel Awards. Thanks to huge public support over the past two years, we were pleased to win Silver at the 2014 and 2015 British Travel Awards, beating much-loved destinations such as Devon, Durham and Yorkshire. We’re keen to go one better this year and be crowned the Best UK Holiday County/Destination 2016.
“Tourism is an important asset to Northumberland, both in terms of employment and economic growth. To win Gold would be great recognition of the hard work and dedication of our team, and those of the businesses large and small who tirelessly support the sector year on year.”
British Travel Awards’ chief executive Lorraine Barnes Burton said: “This year there are nearly seven hundred nominations listed against 83 Award categories and competition to win a British Travel Awards will be fierce. In 2015 more than a million votes were cast by the consumer to decide the winners, making the BTAs easily the largest awards programme in the UK. Voting in the 2016 Awards is now open and nominated companies have until 30th September to lobby their happy customers for votes – good luck to Northumberland.”
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