Businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors are being encouraged to enter the 2025 Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Tourism Awards competition.
Organised by the Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), the region’s accredited tourist board, in partnership with VisitEngland, the prestigious competition sees attractions, venues, experiences, accommodation businesses, restaurants, pubs and cafes go head-to-head in 19 categories.
Winners will progress to the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2025, giving them the chance to emulate the success of previous national competition finalists Gladstone Pottery Museum, the National Memorial Arboretum, The Trentham Estate, the Duncombe Arms and Alton Towers Resort.
Now in their eleventh year, the awards, previously known as the Enjoy Staffordshire Tourism & Good Food Awards, recognise and celebrate the outstanding people and businesses which make up the area’s £2 billion tourism sector.
Free online workshops are being held for businesses to find out more about the 2025 competition and get expert advice on how to write a winning application.
Alastair Budd, Director of Trentham Estate and recently appointed LVEP Chair, said: “We’re excited to be launching our 2025 awards competition which gets bigger and better every year!
“Although our competition already attracts more entries than any other tourism awards in the West Midlands, we’d encourage any business that think they’ve got what it takes to win to enter.
“It’s also an opportunity for Staffordshire businesses to recognise the hard work of their teams, and the only way for them to qualify for the national awards.”
The awards are free to enter, and any tourism or hospitality business located in Staffordshire, including Stoke-on-Trent, can apply. All applications must be submitted online before 23:59 on Monday 2nd September 2024.
Judging will then take place and a shortlist will be announced in January 2025, before the gala dinner and awards ceremony in March.
The free 90-minute applicant advice workshops take place at 2pm on 3 July and 10.30am on 16 July.
Details of all the categories, registration for the webinars/workshops and how to apply can be found here.
