VisitEngland has announced the winners of its Visitor Attraction Accolades for 2022-2023, recognising the high quality visitor experiences on offer across England. The accolades, awarded to 91 attractions across England, recognise all aspects of the visitor experience and are awarded in five categories including ‘Hidden Gem,’ ‘Best Told Story,’ ‘Quality Food and Drink,’ ‘Welcome,’ as well as ‘Gold’ for all round top scoring attractions.

Attractions have received accolades based on the scores they obtained following their annual VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme assessment.

VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said: “These accolades are a testament to the outstanding experiences and customer service that attractions in England give visitors. They also recognise different aspects of the visitor experience with attractions who really go the extra mile, whether it’s offering exceptional food and drink or magical storytelling. The attractions honoured today go out of their way to make visits memorable, creating reasons for people to travel to new locations, also boosting local economies across England.”

Now in their ninth year VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Accolades are available to participants of the VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme across a range of tourism attractions from historic houses, gardens, country parks and farm attractions to galleries, museums, churches and cathedrals. Participating attractions are supported by a network of highly trained and experienced assessors who advise them on improving and promoting the quality, accessibility and sustainability of their offer.  Winning attractions can display the accolade logo at their attraction, online and in their marketing materials.

VisitEngland Advisory Board (VEAB) member Fiona Pollard is also today speaking at the 2023 Visitor Attractions Conference (VAC) at the QEII conference centre in Westminster, London, putting the spotlight on England’s outstanding attractions.  Lady Victoria Borwick, VEAB Chairman, will also be in attendance.

Tourism is one of England’s largest and most valuable industries, supporting hundreds of thousands of businesses, employing about 2.6 million people and, in 2022, generating £66.3 billion in domestic visitor spending.