12:02

Airport sponsors top tourism award

Matt Roach presents Devon Tourism Award to Winner of Winners

Exeter Airport’s Managing Director Matt Roach will present the Devon Tourism Awards Winner of Winners award tonight (23 November) at Sandy Park, Exeter.

The Devon Tourism Awards received a record number of entries this year and after rigorous judging, 27 businesses have been selected as representing the cream of Devon tourism in ten areas.  The finalists will be Gold, Silver and/or Bronze winners, with one entry selected for the coveted, Exeter Airport sponsored, Winner of Winners Award.

The Devon Tourism Awards were launched in 2010 and this year sees the addition of two further categories that recognise the county’s food and drink sector, with judging carried out through a combination of scoring, mystery visits and web searches.

Successful businesses in the Devon Awards will be fast tracked into the South West Tourism Excellence Awards in February 2012, and possibly on to the National Visit England Awards in May next year.

The General Manager of Visit Devon Rosie Bates says that Devon tourism providers have performed very well this year which meant choosing the shortlist was a tough job for the judging panel: “We were pleased to have so many excellent businesses vying for awards in their respective categories, it demonstrates the high quality of tourism businesses that we have here in Devon for our visitors to enjoy.”