Stars of tourism in West Midlands are honoured

Businesses across the region’s accommodation, arts, food and drink, visitor attraction and heritage sectors were honoured in categories including New Tourism Business and Taste of the West Midlands.

Hosted at The Bear Grylls Adventure, the awards celebrated the hard work and dedication of the West Midlands’ visitor attractions and venues to providing excellent visitor experiences.

Among those celebrating were Clayton Hotel Birmingham who won bronze in the Ethical, Responsible & Sustainable Tourism Award  category.

In the Tourism Event/Festival of the Year, Moseley Folk & Arts Festival won a silver while the Birmingham 2022 Festival and Birmingham Festival and The Midlands Air Festival won bronze.

Go Ape Cannock won a bronze in the Experience of the Year section.

The New Tourism Business Award  was won by West Midlands Police Museum.

The event was hosted by Ayo Akinwolere, former Blue Peter presenter and current BBC journalist and presenter, with entertainment from Birmingham three-piece band, Yung Bruddas.

Andrew Lovett, chair of the West Midlands Tourism and Hospitality Advisory Board, said: “This year’s West Midlands Tourism Awards gave us the opportunity to come together to applaud the talent, business acumen and hard work of our tourism sector.

“With an evening of celebration and entertainment, we paid tribute to the visitor attractions, events, accommodation, and hospitality venues, which have helped the region to secure record visitors, create jobs and grow the tourism economy.

“These awards get better each year and I thank the judges for their dedication in drawing out the best of the best. Congratulations to the winners and runners-up in each category, all of whom can be extremely proud. We hope the winners go on to even wider recognition at the national awards later this year.”

The winners (gold) and runners-up (silver) from the 2024 West Midlands Tourism Awards automatically qualify for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, to be held in June, where our winners will be in with a chance of recognition as national champions.

The awards are supported by the West Midlands Growth Company, the region’s official destination marketing agency. This year's awards sponsors included University College Birmingham, Discus Cyber Security Services, Birmingham and West Midlands Convention Bureau and Pertemps Network Group.