Quality, excellence and diversity across Liverpool’s thriving tourist economy have been rewarded at The Mersey Partnership Annual Tourism Awards 2011.
A total of 15 Awards were presented at the event, which was organised by TMP – Official Tourist Board for Liverpool – and hosted by BBC North West Tonight presenter Ranvir Singh.
Liverpool city region’s visitor economy currently generates visitor spend of £2.8billion and is estimated to support approximately 41,000 jobs a year.
A total of 77 shortlisted finalists from across Liverpool City Region went head-to-head across 15 categories covering attractions, accommodation, bars, restaurants and business tourism, and for the first time included the Culture and Heritage Experience of the Year category.
The winners of 11 categories are now eligible to represent Liverpool City Region at the national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence next year.
Lorraine Rogers, TMP Chief Executive, said: “The Annual Tourism Awards event is an opportunity for all of the key organisations in the Visitor Economy to get together and celebrate the very significant collective progress and success that has been achieved.
“The quality and diversity of this year’s finalists was very high – each of them has demonstrated a commitment to attracting more visitors to the Liverpool City Region and offering them an exceptional experience. The winners of the Awards go on to represent the City Region at a national level and can help attract greater profile for the whole destination by being the best in their category.”
A pool of 27 independent judges was involved in the process to select the winners. The panel was drawn from experts in the Visitor Economy sector and judges with any connection to shortlisted entrants did not participate in judging that category.
This year, four winners successfully defended their 2010 titles – they were The Wro in Wirral for Bar of the Year, Herons Well Holiday Cottage in Wirral for Self Catering Accommodation of the Year, Knowsley Hall for Guest Accommodation of the Year, and Liverpool’s Hope Street Hotel for Hotel of the Year.
And the Liverpool City Region districts of Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, St.Helens and Halton were well represented by scooping a third of the titles – demonstrating how the Visitor Economy continues to grow in choice, quality and excellence right across the destination.
The record-breaking John Smith’s Grand National 2011 romped home with the title of Tourism Event of the Year. This year, the race meeting attracted more than 153,000 visitors over three days, broadcasting the Grand National to a TV audience of over 600 worldwide.
It was double honours for Picasso: Peace + Freedom at Tate Liverpool for Tourism Marketing Initiative of the Year and also Culture and Heritage.
Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool also won two Awards – Excellence in Sustainable Tourism, and the BT Convention Centre was honoured for Excellence in Business Tourism.
Since its launch in 2008, the Waterfront venue has contributed up to £400million to the local economy.
Merseytravel’s U-boat Story was named as Small Visitor Attraction of the Year, with Liverpool Football Club taking the title of Large Visitor Attraction of the Year for Stadium Tour and Museum at Anfield Stadium, attracting 156,600 visitors in 2010.
The Taste Award was won by The London Carriage Works, Utility was named Retailer of the Year, and The John Moores Painting Prize at Walker Art Gallery scooped the Tourism Experience of the Year title.
Kevin Roberts from Liverpool ONE beat off stiff opposition from across the City Region to win the Excellence in Customer Service Award.
The following winners are eligible to go on to the next year’s national Enjoy England Awards: Kevin Roberts, Herons Well Holiday Cottage, The London Carriage Works, U-boat Story, Liverpool Football Club, BT Convention Centre, Knowsley Hall, ACC Liverpool, The John Moores Painting Prize at Walker Art Gallery, Hope Street Hotel and The John Smith’s Grand National.
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