Swan House boutique B&B, Hastings, Crowhurst Park Holiday Village and Rye Tourist Information Centre are among the South East’s leading tourism businesses to have been chosen for the finals of the Beautiful South Tourism Awards 2014.
THIS YEAR saw over 120 entries from the cream of the tourism industry in the South East submitted, with 61 businesses selected as finalists. The winners of the prestigious Gold, Silver and Bronze awards will be announced at The Grand Hotel in Brighton on Thursday, December 4.
Should the 1066 Country finalists win Gold Award in their respective categories they will be invited to represent the South East in the National Visit England Awards in 2015.
Co-owner of Swan House, Brendan McDonagh said: ”We are delighted to be shortlisted for this prestigious award again. The judging criteria have changed markedly since our last winning entry in 2009.
“Now much more emphasis is placed on our success at social media marketing initiatives, involvement in the local community and our green business credentials.
“Obviously, good old fashioned customer service and a unique guest experience, are still as important as ever to us. Hopefully that comes across to the judging panel as much as it has done for our visitors”.
Rye TIC Manager, Tracey Young added: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the prestigious Beautiful South Awards. The team at Rye Tourist Information Centre welcomes many visitors to the area, and enjoys supporting and inspiring them to make the most of their stay, not only in the Rother area, but also the wider 1066 Country. It is wonderful to be recognised for the level of service that we deliver”.
Kevin Boorman, manager of 1066 Country Marketing, concluded saying: “We’ve always known that we have got some fantastic tourism businesses here in 1066 Country, and I am delighted that the judges have also recognised this. There is a lot of competition in the market, and excellent quality is vital:-and as the short-list shows, we have that here. Tourism is vitally important to 1066 Country, supporting over 11 000 jobs locally, and businesses such as these show that we can be optimistic about the future of our tourism economy here.”