14th March 2024, York Racecourse
Visit York Tourism Awards
Visit York Tourism Awards 2024
On Thursday 14th March 2024, the winners of the Visit York Tourism Awards were revealed at a prestigious awards ceremony at York Racecourse. The Visit York Tourism Awards, headline sponsored by LNER, celebrates the best of York’s businesses across tourism, hospitality and culture and offers each finalist the chance to win one of 17 trophies.
Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “The Visit York Tourism Awards celebrate the very best in tourism, hospitality and culture in our city and surrounding areas. There are so many amazing local businesses and organisations that make York a world-renowned city, and these awards are a great way to be able to celebrate all the hard work that goes into providing exceptional visitor experiences."
Winner's Toolkit
You can download your Visit York Tourism Awards Winner logo and social assets here.
These logos are designed to be added to your website to demonstrate your win!
Visit York Tourism Awards Winners 2024
Business Event Venue of the Year
Winner: The Guildhall, York
Finalists: City Cruises
Sponsored by Business Enterprise Fund
B&B and Guest House of the Year
Winner: MonkBridge House
Finalists: The Bar Convent Guest House, The Fat Badger, York
Sponsored by York Roast Co.
Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year
Winner: High Oaks Grange
Finalists: Flaxton Meadows, Wigwam Holidays Ball Hall Farm
Sponsored by Morrell Middleton
Event, Festival or Cultural Experience of the Year
Winner: Christmas at Castle Howard
Finalists: Hallowscream at York Maze, York Pride, York Mansion House
Sponsored by North York Moors National Park
Experience of the Year
Winner: The Deathly Dark Tours
Finalists: Sharmini's Inspirational Indian Cuisine, The Bloody Tour of York, The Wizard Walk of York
Sponsored by LNER
Independent Business of the Year
Large Hotel of the Year
Winner: The Grand, York
Finalists: Middletons Hotel (Highly Commended), Moxy York
Sponsored by Streamline Taxis
Large Visitor Attraction of the Year
Winner: The York Dungeon
Finalists: National Railway Museum, The Web Adventure Park, Yorkshire Air Museum
Sponsored by Ward Hadaway
New Tourism Business Award
Winner: The Wizard Walk of York
Finalists: Hocus Pocus Tiny Hotel, Hart Lake Escapes (Highly Commended)
Sponsored by PPS Essentials
Pub of The Year
Winner: The Lime Tree Inn
Finalists: The Fat Badger, York, Social 8 Lounge, The Drovers Arms Restaurant and Country Pub
Sponsored by Hunter Gee Holroyd
Retailer of the Year
Winner: The Potions Cauldron
Finalists: York Gin, Love Cheese
Sponsored by York BID
Self Catering Accommodation of the Year
Winner: 101 House At The End
Finalists: Roomzzz Aparthotel York
Sponsored by Pyper York
Small Hotel of the Year
Winner: The Pheasant Hotel
Finalists: Clementine’s Town House, Hocus Pocus Tiny Hotel
Sponsored by Booking.com
Small Visitor Attraction of the Year
Winner: World of James Herriot
Finalists: The Bar Convent Heritage Centre, The Hole in Wand, York Army Museum
Sponsored by Shambles Market
Taste of England Award
Winner: Legacy at The Grand, York
Finalists: Fish & Forest, Ate O’Clock
Sponsored by Fowlers of York
The Best of York Award
Winner: The Wizard Walk of York
Finalists: Millers Fish & Chips, The Bloody Tour of York
Sponsored by York St John University
Hospitality Hero Award, in partnership with Hospitality Association York
Winner: Indra Petersone from Hilton York
Finalists: Julia Betteridge from Middlethorpe Hall & Spa (Highly Commended), Hannah Mather from The Principal, York, Sean Alton from York Dungeon
Judging
The Visit York Tourism Awards are judged by an independent panel of judges.
View our 2024 judging line up ▸
For all awards the first stage is ‘desk judging’ – which is an evaluation of the online applications using a centralised scoring matrix. A shortlist of entrants is then selected from the application who will be our ‘Finalists for 2024’
Our judges look for evidence of excellence and best practice in all areas of the business operation. A strict word limit is set for each section/question and the online system will cut off at the maximum word count.
The finalists are then taken through a second round of judging which will be conducted through a ‘Mystery Shop’* and subsequent report. The judging panel will then meet to make a final decision utilising all the submitted and gathered evidence for the winners.
Mystery Shopping
This year we will continue to work with our Visit York member and local Regional Director, Ian Sadler from Insight6 to carry out the valuable mystery shopping for the awards. Insight6 is one of the UK's leading Customer Intelligence organisations in the UK who work within the tourism sector and carry out thousands of high quality mystery shops every month.
As part of the process applicants of all categories will have the opportunity to meet with Ian and after the awards ceremony will be offered a review meeting to go through the completed report on your business.
*Only two categories this year will not be mystery shopped – Event, Festival or Cultural Experience of the Year and The Best of York Award. The second round of judging for this category will comprise of a face to face interview.
Please note: Shortlisted businesses must agree to waive all costs associated with the mystery shopper process.
All applicants for the 2024 Awards, including those who do not reach the shortlist stage, will receive feedback on their application via the Openwater system.