Yorkshire's beautiful dales battle with bushy outback for world titles
Published: 9 September, 2011
The UK's largest county is sizing up to some of the world's iconic destinations to battle it out for two of tourism's top prizes in this year's World Travel Awards.
Yorkshire's tourism agency, Welcome to Yorkshire, has been nominated for World's Leading Tourist Board and will be taking on the likes of Australia, Malaysia, the Maldives and New York.
Welcome to Yorkshire has also been shortlisted for the World's Leading Tourism Authority Website in the World Travel Awards, the most prestigious awards in the travel industry.
Online voting has now opened for the awards and it is hoped Yorkshire fans everywhere will get behind their favourite destination and vote to make 'God's own county' tops on a global scale.
Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "This is awesome news for the county of Yorkshire. Our job is to fly the Yorkshire flag internationally which we are incredibly proud to do and with such an amazing destination to promote we feel privileged to have been nominated for these awards."
With votes cast by travel, tourism and hospitality businesses in hundreds of countries across the globe, Welcome to Yorkshire has been independently nominated for the award.
The nominations follow last year's big wins when Welcome to Yorkshire romped home with the title of World's Leading Marketing Campaign for its innovative campaign 'a long weekend in Yorkshire isn't long enough'.
In addition to top tourist board, this year the destination management organisation is aiming for world recognition for its multi award winning website, www.yorkshire.com which has had almost 11 million visits and nearly 35 million page views since it launched in April 2009.
Peter Dodd, head of marketing and sales at Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "Since the launch of Yorkshire.com the site has constantly been updated to ensure potential visitors to Yorkshire are given a fresh perspective on all that's great about our great county. I like to think we broke the mould on how a tourism website should look and be interacted with. We encourage users to join in with the interactive elements of the site and aim to give an accessible and enjoyable web experience that inspires them to visit and book their stay time and time again."
Launched in 1993, the World Travel Awards have been described by the Wall Street Journal as the 'Oscars' of the global travel and tourism industry; helping to improve quality, value and customer service.
The winners will be announced in November (full list below*).
Yorkshire fans can vote in the world and travel technology categories here: www.yorkshire.com/vote
- ENDS -
*World's Leading Tourist Board
Nominees: Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Cancun Conventions & Visitors Bureau, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing Government of Dubai, Incredible India, Jamaica Tourist Board, Johannesburg Tourism Company, Las Vegas CVB, Maldives Tourism Promotion Board, New York - NYC & Company, New Zealand Tourist Board, PromPeru - Peruvian Tourism Board, Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau, South Africa Tourism, Tourism Australia, Tourism Malaysia, Turkish Culture & Tourism Office, VisitBritain and Welcome To Yorkshire.
World's Leading Tourism Authority Website
Nominees: Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Australian Tourist Commission, España, Germany Tourism Authority, New York, Qatar Tourism Authority, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tourism Malaysia, Visit Jamaica, Visit Portugal, VisitBritain, Welcome To Yorkshire.
Editors' Notes:
- Welcome to Yorkshire is the official destination management organisation for Yorkshire, working to grow the county's visitor economy.
- Welcome to Yorkshire is funded by Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency charged with improving the Yorkshire and Humber economy, and Welcome to Yorkshire members.
- Key facts include:
- Tourism in Yorkshire is worth £7 billion annually
- The county's industry employs almost a quarter of a million people
- There are 216 million visits to Yorkshire each year
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For further information contact:
Beverley Richmond - Press Officer
Email: brichmond@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 322 3507
Mobile: 07769 257380
Graham Poucher - Press Officer
Email: gpoucher@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 322 3578
Mobile: 07805 958728