Awards to find our tourism champions

A SEARCH has been launched to find the heroes of the tourism and hospitality industry in North Wales after the “absolute nightmare” of the past 18 months.

Jim Jones, the chief executive of North Wales Tourism, hopes the glittering awards ceremony will herald a reboot for the sector battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nominations are now being sought for 15 categories at the Go North Wales Awards that will be held at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Thursday, November 25. The closing date for nominations is Sunday, October 10.

The event will be hosted by the acclaimed BBC News television journalist, Sian Lloyd.

The private sector body which has around 2,000 members was due to celebrate its 30th anniversary at last year’s cancelled awards but just like the Olympics and the Euros the event is going ahead a year late.

Until the pandemic struck, the tourism industry in North Wales was breaking all kinds of records. In 2019 overall income generated increased to an all-time high of £3.6 billion and the number of visitors rocketed to nearly 37 million. Then the industry collapsed like a house of cards when the first lockdown was imposed in March last year.

But the staycation boom this summer has shown North Wales is still a hugely popular destination for holidaymakers.

Jim Jones said: “The last 18 months have been an absolute nightmare. It’s probably been the most stressful and most challenging time everybody, not just for the tourism industry.

“Of all the economic sectors in the North Wales economy, tourism and hospitality have borne the brunt of the pandemic.

“One reason why we were really keen to put on these awards is to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

“The original plan was to have a big celebration last year. The awards will be about recognising the heroes of the tourism and hospitality industry and the incredible resilience they have shown and are continuing to show during the most challenging time our sector has ever faced.”

To see the full list of categories and make a nomination go to: gonorthwalestourismawards.website/ submit-application/