Yorkshire named as Europe's leading destination at World Travel Awards

10:00am Tuesday 3rd September 2013 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

TOURISM bosses are jubilant after Yorkshire was named as Europes Leading Destination at the World Travel Awards.

The region overcame stiff competition from a range of capital cities including London, Berlin and Madrid to win the award at a ceremony in Antalya, Turkey.

The tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire was also recognised, winning Europes Leading Marketing Campaign for the second time.

Chief executive Gary Verity said: Its fantastic to see Yorkshire taking its rightful place as one of the top holiday destinations in Europe.

Its a real validation of both Welcome to Yorkshires work and the efforts of the thousands of attractions, restaurants, accommodation providers and other tourism businesses which make this county great.

He said Yorkshire was the first location other than a major city or country to have won Europes Best Destination in 17 years of the award, and Welcome to Yorkshire was the first to have won Best Marketing Campaign twice.

News of this award comes off the back of a fantastic year already for Yorkshire and the growing excitement about Yorkshires hosting of the 2014 Grand Depart of the Tour de France. This is one of the biggest awards in international tourism, and Im very proud to see Yorkshire at the top.

Welcome to Yorkshire has won seven European and World Travel Awards since it launched in 2009 beating globally recognised travel brands and some of the worlds leading destination management organisations.

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Yorkshire named as Europe's leading destination at World Travel Awards