The 2017 Devon Tourism Awards were held at Plymouth’s Guild Hall last night with the prestigious event being hosted by travel journalist Simon Calder and arctic explorer Ann Daniels.
Now in their 8th year the awards saw a record 205 entries entering 25 different categories, with 76 awards announced on the night. The event was enhanced by illuminating presentations from Simon Calder on global factors in tourism and an uplifting talk from Arctic explorer Ann Daniels, who lives in Devon.
Exeter Airport sponsored the International Visitor Experience of the Year.
The airport’s communications manager Stephen Ayres (seen here with the Gold winners) presented the awards for this section of the event.
GOLD
- Westward Living, Westward Ho!, westwardliving.co.uk, @Westwardliving
SILVER
- South West Coast Path Association, southwestcoastpath.org.uk, @swcoastpath
BRONZE
- Unique Devon Tours, Newton Abbot, uniquedevontours.com, @UniqueDevonTour
Well done also to the winner of the Large Hotel of the Year winner:
GOLD
Bovey Castle, North Bovey, boveycastle.com, @BoveyCastle
Bovey Castle and Exeter Airport are part of the Rigby Group
The night saw three special awards, with 25 Boutique B&B from Torquay taking the Winner of Winners and B&B Gold awards with judges describing them as a ‘beacon’ to the industry. There was a special Outstanding Contribution to Tourism award presented to Esther Pearson and the South West Coast Path team for their innovative Discover England project. There was also surprise all round as a further Outstanding Contribution award was presented to journalist Martin Hesp for his contribution in highlighting Devon’s wildlife, food, drink and walking experiences over 20+ years.
