Blackpool's 'Oscar' winners celebrate
Five Blackpool businesses celebrated success at the annual tourism "Oscars" for Lancashire.
The fifth annual Lancashire & Blackpool Tourism Awards saw the resort dominate the event held at Blackburn Rovers Football Club.
Winners included:
Number One South Beach (Bed and Breakfast/Guest Accommodation Of The Year). The Number One, one of Blackpool's newest hotels, follows in the footsteps of its award-winning sister, Number One St Lukes, which was voted best in the country.
Number One South Beach was described by the judges as "providing excellence across all aspects of its operation and although still relatively new, is certainly living up to its name, with the highest level of quality accommodation, demonstrating a real commitment to customer care and dishing up a good quality breakfast using fresh, seasonal, local produce."
Big Blue Hotel (Large Hotel Of The Year). The Pleasure Beach hotel was praised for "demonstrating innovation in the facilities it is providing and matching this with great service - looking to continuously improve its offer and attend to guest needs."
Sandcastle Waterpark (Large Visitor Attraction Of The Year). The South Beach attraction was praised for having made "significant investment in its facilities and setting itself high standards to achieve a strong, all-round performance. It has placed customer service at the heart of everything it does, and also made a commitment to staff training and development."
Newton Hall Holiday Park (Caravan Holiday Park Of The Year). The Staining-based business was praised for "investing in facilities and staff on a continuous basis. Through training and developing its staff and catering for visitors of all ages, it is providing a quality holiday park experience, committed to providing well-kept public amenities."
The Beach House (Self Catering Holiday Of The Year). The business, based on Queens Promenade, Bispham, was praised for "operating in a sustainable way, provding a welcoming and inviting atmosphere for that ideal, getaway-from-it-all break".
Ribby Hall Village at Wrea Green (http://www.ribbyhall.co.uk/) won the award for Tourism Website Of The Year.
Mike Wilkinson, chief executive of Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board, told the audience: "It is fitting to hold our awards at Blackburn Rovers, Lancashire's representative in football's top league. Our entrants are equally premiership class and deserve their recognition today.
"As with a Premiership team they have needed to be result-driven in order to survive, go for excellence and quality to really prosper, and rightly, celebrate success when it comes."
James Berresford, Director of Tourism at the North West Development Agency, added: "The winners are a reflection of the hard work and commitment that is helping tourism to thrive in the North West.
"Quality is the key to success in this industry and these winners are helping to raise the benchmark."