Time to purchase your tickets for The Tourism Excellence Awards 2024-25

Tickets are now on sale for our Tourism Excellence Awards 2024-25 and shortlisted businesses should look out for an email from us this week with more information about our new-look event.

Destination Lincolnshire and Discover Rutland recently announced the shortlist for the renamed Tourism Excellence Awards. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at Lincolnshire Showground on February 28, 2025 (6.30pm arrival, carriages at midnight).

Shortlisted businesses and guests can make sure they don’t miss out by purchasing their tickets to the event online here. This includes an arrival drink, a menu which champions locally sourced food, and entertainment.

The list of finalists is a showcase of those who have demonstrated an outstanding level of innovation, commitment, and leadership in the tourism industry across our LVEP region. This year’s awards also celebrate individuals who have gone above and beyond in their roles, as nominated anonymously by their industry peers!

Shortlisted businesses, organisations and individuals from the 12 core categories will be put through their paces by mystery shopping experts insight6 before February’s awards ceremony.

The winners of the core categories will automatically be put forward to compete for a coveted spot on the national Visit England Awards for Excellence 2025 shortlist.

This year’s awards feature six regional-only categories, with new categories created to celebrate the people and places that are making our visitor economy shine: The Going Places Award, Outstanding Contribution Award, and Pride in Place Award.

Destination Lincolnshire’s awards team - Commercial Manager Holly Hart, Senior Relationship Executive Holly Christian and Business Manager Jayne Warren - are looking forward to inviting you to an exciting evening of entertainment.

They said: “The team is pulling out all the stops to create an unforgettable evening of celebration, networking and appreciation, surrounded by some of the county’s most notable figures in the tourism sector.

“We are very proud of the tourism sector in Greater Lincolnshire, and applications exceeding numbers from previous years came in from all areas of our LVEP regions, which is testament to those who are committed to delivering excellence across all facets of the industry.

“We are proud to have taken over the organisation of The Tourism Excellence Awards and are very excited about the 2025 event and our longer-term plans.”

Destination Lincolnshire has worked hard to reduce the ticket price this year with a £10 reduction from 2023’s event which was organised by Stonebow Media.

Destination CEO Charlotte Goy previously said the destination marketing organisation is working on a longer-term plan and hopes “ticket prices will continue to reduce year-on-year”.

Some sponsorship opportunities are still available, so if you are interested in working with us to sponsor the awards please get in touch by emailing our Commercial Manager Holly Hart at holly.hart@destinationlincolnshire.co.uk. Sponsors will be announced via Destination Lincolnshire’s LinkedIn page.

We are also supported by our Award Partners:

• Rutland County Council
• Lincolnshire County Council
• North Lincolnshire Council
• North East Lincolnshire Council
• City of Lincoln Council
• West Lindsey District Council
• East Lindsey District Council
• Boston Borough Council
• North Kesteven District Council
• South Kesteven District Council
• South Holland District Council
• Heart of Lincs
• Lincoln College
• AVH Parks Ltd
• Insight6
• Knapton Wright
• Lincolnshire Showground

Now in their sixth year, excluding two absent years for Covid, the awards have been designed to celebrate the success of tourism businesses across Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland as a whole and promote the strength of the business and leisure tourism offer, its venues, people, experiences, and accommodation.

The awards also serve to highlight the importance of tourism’s contribution to the regional economy – currently standing at £2.6bn across Greater Lincolnshire – which Destination Lincolnshire and its industry partners seek to grow over the coming years.