Stars of West Midlands’ tourism sector crowned

The West Midlands’ tourism sector has named its stars of the last 12 months, with 14 prizes handed out to visitor-facing venues at the 2023 West Midlands Tourism Awards.

Organisations from across the region’s accommodation, arts, food and drink, visitor attraction and heritage sectors were recognised in categories including Experience of the Year, New Tourism Business and Accessible & Inclusive Tourism.

Held at Grand Station in Wolverhampton, the ceremony celebrated a memorable year for the West Midlands’ tourism sector thanks to major events including Coventry UK City of Culture, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Birmingham 2022 Festival.

The event was hosted by Shazia Mirza, an award-winning British stand-up comedian and writer from Birmingham, with further entertainment from West Midlands-based musical collective, The Peaky Blinders.

The awards are supported by the West Midlands Growth Company, the region’s official destination promotion agency.

Andrew Lovett OBE, Chair of the West Midlands Tourism & Hospitality Advisory Board, said: “The West Midlands Tourism Awards gave us the perfect opportunity to look back on a momentous year for our region and recognise the contribution that our fantastic sector has made in enhancing the West Midlands’ global profile.

“Together, we congratulated the staff and owners at visitor attractions, accommodation and hospitality venues, who have helped to highlight to a record number of people from around the world the breadth, depth and distinctiveness of our tourism offer.

“This provides an excellent platform on which to build, as tourist volumes continue to recover to their pre-pandemic levels. We acknowledge that there remain ongoing challenges for the sector to address, but we saw at this year’s awards ceremony that we have the talent and ambition to overcome these and continue to make the West Midlands an exciting and popular visitor destination.”

The award winners (gold) and runners-up (silver) from the 2023 West Midlands Tourism Awards will automatically qualify for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, to be held later this year, where venues will be in with a chance to be shortlisted and recognised as national champions.

The West Midlands Tourism Awards 2023 winners included: