White Rose a sell out as Yorkshire gets the X factor
Story Published: 14 September 2010
Over 1000 people have booked their places at Yorkshire's White Rose Awards, making this a sell out year for the UK's biggest tourism awards ceremony.
Organised by Welcome to Yorkshire, the awards recognise and celebrate Yorkshire's tourism stars, as chosen by an independent panel of judges. The 90 finalists* will be joined on 4th October in Harrogate by their industry peers, friends and celebrities from across the county, as they go head to head for the 16 highly coveted White Rose Award trophies.
"To receive a White Rose Award is a great honour indeed as it is the highest official recognition a tourism provider can achieve in Yorkshire," said Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire. "It is testament to the prestige and reputation of the awards that this year's event, which is bigger than ever before, has sold out."
The announcement comes on the back of more great news for Yorkshire as Welcome to Yorkshire, is shortlisted for World's Leading Tourist Board in the prestigious World Travel Awards.
The competition, which features some of the world's richest tourism agencies, has been described by the Wall Street Journal as the 'Travel Industry's equivalent to the Oscar's'. Tourist boards from Abu Dhabi, Australia, Jamaica, Maldives, Las Vegas, Cancun and New York are competing for the honour which will be announced in London on 7th November (full list below).
"This has been an amazing week for tourism. To have been nominated for the World Travel Award is major news and we are incredibly proud to be England's only representative in the category. Votes were cast in over 160 countries, and we are up against the likes of New York and the Maldives, making this a huge achievement for Yorkshire's tourism industry."
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Editors' Notes:
White Rose Awards - 4th October 2010 - Yorkshire Event Centre, Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate
*A full list of categories and finalists can be seen on www.whiteroseawards.com
World Travel Awards - 7th November 2010
Full list of World's Leading Tourist Board nominees:
Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority; Cancun Conventions & Visitors Bureau; Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing Government of Dubai; India Tourism; Jamaica Tourist Board; Johannesburg Tourism Company; Las Vegas CVB; Maldives Tourism Promotion Board; New York - NYC & Company; PromPeru - Peruvian Tourism Board; South Africa Tourism; Tourism Australia; Tourism Malaysia; Turkish Culture & Tourism Office; VisitBritain; Welcome To Yorkshire.
About Welcome to Yorkshire
- Welcome to Yorkshire is the official tourism agency 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.
- Key facts include:
- Tourism in Yorkshire is worth £6.5 billion annually
- The county's industry employs almost a quarter of a million people
- There are 209 million visits to Yorkshire each year
For more news and a free image bank www.yorkshire.com/mediacentre
For further information contact:
Beverley Richmond - Press Officer
Email: brichmond@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 322 3507
Mobile: 07769 257380
Dee Marshall - Head of Communications
Email: dmarshall@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 3223505
Mobile: 07950 325 901