Press Office
The National Railway Museum in York has won Yorkshire tourism’s highest accolade for the fourth time.
The coveted Visitor Attraction of the Year award was announced last night in a glittering ceremony at the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham.
Judges praised the Museum for its “ongoing policy of investment in the future”.
A representative from Yorkshire Tourist Board also highlighted “the Museum’s excellent record in customer care, and the overall standard of the ever-changing experience it offers to visitors”.
In the last round of the contest, the Museum beat off five other finalists in its category to scoop the award. It will now go forward to the national Enjoy England Awards next spring.
Andrew Scott, Head of the National Railway Museum, said:
“We are delighted to receive this accolade and immensely proud to be part of the rich variety of visitor experiences that Yorkshire has to offer.
“To have won this award four times is recognition of the hard work put in by all the Museum’s staff in maintaining high standards and in constantly enhancing what we have to offer.”
Overall, there were 81 finalists in competition for the 15 coveted awards. The ceremony itself was presided over by YTB’s chairman Judith Donovan CBE and took place before an audience of over 550 people including finalists, supporters, invited guests and VIPs.
Yorkshire broadcasters and media personalities Harry Gration and Christa Ackroyd announced the awards. Presentations were made by David Andrews, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Tourist Board.
Mr Andrews said:
“Year on year the popularity of these awards increases. Not only with businesses entering, but with sponsors looking to ally themselves with a brand that personifies excellence. Without their support the White Rose Awards would not enjoy the prestige they currently do.”
There was a separate Visitor Attraction of the Year award for smaller of the Year open to smaller attractions. Other awards were given in categories such as Caravan Park of the Year, Best Newcomer to Tourism, and Best Tourism Experience.
The Visitor Attraction of the Year award is sponsored by GNER.
Notes for editors
- Highlights of the Museum include the Flying Scotsman Story exhibition, Shinkansen (the only bullet train in the world outside Japan), The Works (an open store and engineering workshop), and now the Norwich Union Yorkshire Wheel.
- Plans for the future include Search Engine, a hi-tech, multi-million pound project to open up the Museum’s hidden archives to the public.
- Other finalists in the Visitor Attraction of the Year (50,000+ visitors) category were: The Deep, Hull; National Coal Mining Museum for England, Overton; Normanby Hall Country Park; Scarborough Castle; York Art Gallery.
- The White Rose Awards for Tourism, the top accolade for tourism in Yorkshire, were created 17 years ago by the Tourist Board to recognise and reward excellence in tourism.
- The White Rose Awards for Tourism are supported by VisitBritain. Winners in the 13 major categories automatically qualify for entry to the national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, organised by VisitBritain, to be held in Spring 2006.
- Yorkshire Tourist Board is the official tourism marketing agency for Yorkshire and the Humber, it is supported by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and exists to represent and help generate sustainable business for the region’s tourism industry, an industry worth £4.2 billion to the region annually and employing over 165,000 people, making it the largest and fastest growing industry in the region.
- Yorkshire’s goal, as identified in the newly published Bold Vision, Bright Future - The Tourism Marketing Strategy for Yorkshire and Humber 2006 - 2010, is to achieve and increase in the value of tourism earnings to the region by 5% per annum to £5.9bn by 2010.
29 August 2006