Yorkshire has been named best European travel destination at the World Travel Awards for the second consecutive year.
Forget the fine dining of Paris, the cultural vibrancy of London, and the fabled Venetian canals: there’s more for holidaymakers in Yorkshire, according to voters in a tourism awards ceremony at the weekend.
The county was named Europe’s leading destination for the second year in a row at the “World Travel Awards”, voted for by travel industry professionals.
Fresh from the success of the Tour de France Grand Départ last month, and the two stages of the event that were hosted in the county, Yorkshire fended off 13 rival nominations, including London, Berlin, St Petersburg, Paris and Venice.
More than two million people lined the roads to watch cyclists pass through some of the county’s prettiest landscapes – and those images seem to have influenced those deciding the awards.
It is the second consecutive year that the English county has claimed the award, and the first time a destination has won it back to back since London won in 2007 and 2008.
Last year, organisers at the World Travel Awards said they received more than 500,000 votes cast by travel professionals, as well as “high-end tourism consumers”.
The awards were set up in 1993, with the top European destination category starting in 1996. This year, there were 88 different categories under the European banner, in an exhaustive list ranging from Europe’s leading destination to the best airline lounge, spa resort and leading “serviced apartment brand”. Welcome to Yorkshire, the region's tourism board, also won the leading marketing campaign category.
The Europe’s leading destination award was once dominated by London, which won it six years in a row after the inception of the awards. Other past winners include Lisbon, Istanbul, Greece and Edinburgh.
Geneva won this year's best city break destination, while the Acropolis in Athens was voted leading tourist attraction.
The full list of this year's awards can be seen at the World Travel Awards website.
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