Derby wins first prize in MW tourism awards
Derby Tourism was this year’s winner of the Marketing in Tourism Award, jointly devised by the English Tourism Council (ETC) and Marketing Week.
The award is part of the England for Excellence Awards run by the ETC, and was presented at a ceremony last week at The Savoy in London.
Derby Tourism won the award for its Rams Football Weekend – an innovative promotion co-ordinated by Derby Tourism to promote longer stay and greater spend among visitor attractions in the city.
The project illustrated how with imagination and a small budget, good results can be achieved. In the first year &£30,000 of additional income was generated from a small investment of &£1,600.
Marketing Week editor Stuart Smith says: “A 2000 per cent return on investment is good business by any standards, but the winning entry – Rams Football Weekend – also demonstrated that flair, imagination and abundant enthusiasm can perform wonders with a micro marketing budget.”
Silver awards went to The Wakefield Rhubarb Trail, city of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, and a guesthouse called Helm in North Yorkshire.
Other winners include: Countrywide Holidays, which won the tour operator of the year award; Lakeland Motor Museum in Cumbria, which was awarded visitor attraction of the year (under 100,000 visitors); and Marriott Hanbury Manor Golf & Country Club, which picked up the award for hotel of the year.
