05 February 2021

Dorset’s best tourism businesses celebrated at regional awards event

Marsham Court Hotel

Dorset LEP is proud to have sponsored the ‘Winner of Winners’ and ‘International Visitor Experience’ categories at this week’s Dorset Tourism Awards.

The awards, broadcast across multiple Zoom calls yesterday to announce all category winners, declared Marsham Court Hotel as overall ‘Winner of Winners’.

After a challenging year for the tourism industry, the Dorset Tourism Awards event was flooded with smiles and optimism, with representatives from finalist businesses dressed to the nines for their webcams.

Sara Uzzell, Deputy Chair of Dorset LEP, who attended to present the Winner of Winners award, said: “It was a pleasure to attend the awards yesterday and see the amount of positivity amongst our fantastic tourism businesses who have delivered incredible experiences in an extremely challenging year.

“It was to my delight to announce Jurassic Coast Guides as the winner in the International Visitor Experience category and Marsham Court Hotel as the overall Winner of Winners. The amazing team at the Marsham Court have continued their pursuit of excellence, despite the obvious and ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic, committing investment and energy to developing outstanding services and experiences for those visiting our beautiful county in the process.”

‘Winner of Winners’ Marsham Court Hotel also secured three Gold Awards: Business Events and Wedding Venue of the Year, Dog Friendly Business of the Year and Hotel of the Year. The family run Bournemouth hotel is situated close to the town centre and offers high quality accommodation, wedding venues and meeting and event function rooms. 

Awards organiser Robin Barker said: “It would have been very easy to cancel the Awards this year – we did think long and hard about it, but the level of early entries we received in spite of everything, and the creativity and determination shown by entrants inspired us to find a way to make this happen – and your responses and feedback ever since have completely blown us away.”

The full list of category winners is available on the Dorset Tourism Awards website

Dorset’s tourism businesses, along with local businesses from any sector, can access the services of Dorset LEP’s business growth hub, Dorset Gateway, which continues to offer support through the ongoing restrictions.

Still open for applications is Crowdfund Dorset Business which provides businesses in need of a cash injection with up to £5,000 of match-funding. Dorset Gateway is proud to be continuing this popular scheme which has already allocated £30,000 of match-funded grants to sole traders, micro and small businesses across Dorset. Businesses who have already benefitted include several hospitality, tourism, arts and retail businesses. If your business needs to bounce-back from the effects of COVID-19, or you know of someone who could benefit from this scheme, find out more on the Crowdfunder website.

Dorset Gateway is also refreshing its Business Directory and is inviting the region's business community, of all sizes and in any sector, to register and feature on this free online platform. In an effort to further support small businesses during this latest lockdown period, Dorset Gateway is also encouraging local retail, hospitality and tourism businesses that continue to operate to register during business directory sign-up to be a part of a regional #StillOpen campaign, currently raising awareness of businesses still trading, across the county.

Sign up today to be included in the Business Directory and contact the team at gateway@dcci.co.uk or www.dorsetlep.co.uk/dorset-gateway for more information on all support packages.

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