Northumberland nominated for British Travel Awards

The winner will be determined by a public vote, which runs until Friday, September 30, and people are being encouraged to show their support for The Secret Kingdom.

Northumberland is up against five other nominees: Cornwall; Devon; Pembrokeshire; Somerset; and Yorkshire.

The British Travel Awards are considered the benchmark for excellence when it comes to finding out who really is the best in the travel industry.

The campaign for Northumberland to become the Best UK County/Destination is being led by Northumberland Tourism, in partnership with Active Northumberland.

They believe this year will be third time lucky for Northumberland, after the county scooped Silver awards in 2014 and 2015, narrowly missing out to Cornwall on both occasions.

Jude Leitch, director of Northumberland Tourism, said: “We are thrilled to once again be nominated in the British Travel Awards.

“Thanks to public support over the past two years, we were pleased to win Silver at the 2014 and 2015 British Travel Awards, but we’re keen to go one better this year and be crowned the Best UK Holiday County/Destination 2016.

“Tourism is an important asset to Northumberland, both in terms of employment and economic growth. To win Gold would be great recognition of the hard work and dedication of our team, and those of the businesses who tirelessly support the sector year on year.”

British Travel Awards’ chief executive Lorraine Barnes Burton said: “This year there are nearly 700 nominations listed against 83 award categories and competition to win at the British Travel Awards will be fierce.

“In 2015, more than a million votes were cast by the consumer to decide the winners, making the BTAs easily the largest awards programme in the UK. Voting in the 2016 Awards is now open. Good luck to Northumberland.”

Click here to vote, and also help to spread the word on social media by using #VoteNland