Bristol tourism businesses struck gold at the region’s top awards for the industry last night with Aerospace Bristol, the SS Great Britain and the New Room all picking up two accolades each and a wide range of the city’s other attractions and venues also among the winners.
Destination Bristol head of tourism Kathryn Davis won the Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Award – voted by her peers – while Jenny Stoves from Bristol Zoo was named Customer Service Superstar and Where The Wall’s Bristol Street Art Tour won gold for Guided Tour of the Year. 
A record number of finalists across 28 categories were announced at the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards ceremony, which was staged at Bath’s Apex Hotel and sponsored by Bristol Airport.
Pictured, the Aerospace Bristol team collect one of their awards from Phil de Glanville, left
Nearly 300 guests attended the black-tie dinner and awards ceremony with the 84 finalists ranging from hotels, guest houses and pubs to visitor attractions, walking tours and festivals from a region that spreads from Bath and Bristol and across Somerset to Exmoor.
Aerospace Bristol, which only opened a year ago at Filton and which houses Concorde as well as tracing Bristol’s lead role in the history of powered flight, landed silver in the Large Attraction of the Year category and bronze in the Business Tourism and Venue category.
The New Room – also known as John Wesley’s Chapel – won Gold in the Small Attraction of the Year category and bronze in the International/Inbound Visitor Experience of the Year, with the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust highly commended in this category.
Brunel’s SS Great Britain landed the Gold award for Tourism Innovation and Silver in the Large Attraction of the Year category.
The café at Bristol’s Spike Island art gallery secured bronze in the Café/Tearoom of the Year category while Bristol Hoppers craft beer tour walked away with silver in the Guided Tour of the Year category. Bristol’s Gloucester Road Independent District was highly commended in this category.
Bristol Harbour Festival earned Silver for the Tourism Event/Festival of the Year,
The awards ceremony was hosted by BBC Radio Bristol presenter Laura Rawlings and former Bath Rugby captain Phil de Glanville.
Bristol Airport business development director Nigel Scott said: “This year’s awards were a fantastic showcase for Bristol, Bath and Somerset.
“From small independents to major attractions, the range and quality of experiences on offer to visitors continues to impress. With nearly 1.5m journeys expected to be made by overseas passengers using Bristol Airport this year, it is clear that the tourism sector is a vital part of the regional economy.”
Awards organiser Nell Barrington added: “Last night I was just so excited and proud to be celebrating with these amazing tourism businesses. The numbers of entries this year has increased by nearly a third so the competition was really tough and it was great to see so many turn out in force to celebrate their achievements. “
Details of all the winners can be found here
