Isle of Wight with four nominations in Beautiful South Awards.

The Beautiful South Awards will be held on December 5 in Brighton and the Isle of Wight has four nominations.

Finalists have been revealed by Tourism South East and the Island is represented in four separate categories:

Tom’s Eco Lodge is nominated in the Glamping Business category, and sister property East Afton House is nominated in the Self Catering Accommodation of the Year category.

 Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park has been shortlisted in the Camping and Caravanning and Holiday Park/Village of the year category whilst Visit Isle of Wight (team pictured with Helen centre) is proud to be shortlisted in the Visitor Information Service of the Year category.

Speaking about the Island’s finalists, Will Myles, Managing Director of Visit Isle of Wight said: “It’s  great to see the Isle of Wight recognised for it’s tourism businesses in the Beautiful South Tourism Awards, the warm welcome they offer, the high quality of the accommodation and the service they provide. We hope that Tom’s Eco Lodge, East Afton Farm and Whitecliff Bay are all gold medal winners at the awards – there is no doubt in my mind that they deserve it!”

Will also commented: “ What a day to come to work and find out you’ve been shortlisted! It’s a little bit unexpected, but with the team that we’ve got, not totally! The team itself is a small team, front facing, they do lots of different things around the Island, they see over 20 000 people each year in the visitor centre. They give them lots of information about sustainable travel, where to go, places to see, it’s just an amazing programme that they can actually talk about the Island with such passion. Helen, who’s our visitor centre manager and we have an new apprentice called Chloe, work together in the visitor centre, so it’s all down to them and the team behind them as well giving them all the information they need, but they’re the front facing people and well done them. “

Tourism South East awards  include Kent, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, in fact all across the south of England. Judges in the Beautiful South Awards were instructed to look for evidence not just of ‘good’ but of ‘excellent’, so to be a shortlisted finalist is a very significant achievement.

Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is  owned and operated by Away Resorts, Operations Director Greg Lashley said: ” We are delighted that Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park has been named as a finalist in the Camping and Caravanning and Holiday Park/Village of the Year category.The Beautiful South Awards are highly regarded in the industry and it is a true honour to be one of the finalists. It means a lot to the team on the park and to the operator as a whole as it is recognition of all of the hard work we have put in across the year along with the millions that Away Resorts has invested in new accommodation, facilities and infrastructure at Whitecliff Bay, to make it the most desirable holiday park on the Isle of Wight.”