The British Guild of Travel Writers' annual tourism awards were announced last night on the eve of World Travel Market. The Borders Railway, Scotland won in the UK category, Coming World Remember Me, Ypres, Belgium took top honours in the European category, while Egypt's Sinai Trail won in the Wider World category.
 
The elegant awards dinner at London's Savoy Hotel was sponsored by Rixos Hotels Group, with support from Nice/Côte d'Azur, AtoutFrance and Aarhus, Denmark, European Capital of Culture 2017. The selected charity was Survival International (survivalinternational.org), the global movement for tribal peoples' rights.
 
Each tourism project has been completed within the past three years, each was nominated by a Guild member and selected via a secret ballot of the Guild's 270 professional journalists, writers, editors, photographers, broadcasters and bloggers. The Guild members proposing a project were asked to evaluate the initiatives on the basis of tourism potential and benefit to the local community.  

UK & IRELAND
In the UK & IRELAND category, The Borders Railway, Scotland (nominated by Guild member Vivien Devlin) is the 2016 winner. In 2015, the longest new domestic railway in Britain for more than a century revived the passenger train service from Edinburgh to the Scottish Borders. With 9 stations, the 35 mile/57km line now gives easy access to hiking, biking, golf and fishing; to traditional pubs and inns; to woollen mills, Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott's former residence, and Melrose Abbey. The benefits to tourism and the environment are huge (scotrail.co.uk/scotland-by-rail/borders-railway).
Twitter: @bordersrailway
FB: www.facebook.com/BordersRailTV/
Google+ @bordersrailway
 
Highly commended is the new Exe Estuary Trail, Devon (nominated by Jan Fuscoe), a unique cycling and walking trail, created by Devon County Council working with the National Cycle Network, Sustrans, the RSPB, Natural England, Network Rail, even the Ministry of Defence. The result is a beautiful, user-friendly nature trail, with spectacular bridges, bird-viewing facilities, even public art works (exploredevon.info/activities/cycle/exe-estuary-trail/).
 
Twitter: travel_devon, @GreatDevonDays, @Exeestuary, @activedevon, @RSPBSouthWest
FB: facebook.com/pages/Cycle-Devon-Travel-Devon/1431497477098798
 
Also Highly Commended is Surf Snowdonia, Conwy, Wales (nominated by James Stewart). What do you do with a derelict aluminium smelter in a dying North Wales village? Build a 300m-long lagoon for the world's longest man-made wave, of course. The UK's first artificial surfing lake provides 3 distinct waves for beginners, improvers and experts, plus all the kit. It has already hosted the world's first pro surfing event on an artificial wave (surfsnowdonia.co.uk).
Twitter: @surfsnowdonia
FB: www.facebook.com/surfsnowdonia/
www.instagram.com/surfsnowdonia/
 
Merit Awards have gone to the following, placing them among the top dozen new tourism projects in the United Kingdom:
The World of Wedgwood, Stoke-on-Trent, England (Gillian Thornton)
Who Made My Breakfast, Hastings Hotels, N Ireland (Susan L Schwartz)
Switch House, Tate Modern, London (Petra Shepherd)
Seaton Jurassic, Devon, England (Hilary Bradt)
Museum of Brands, Packaging& Advertising, London (Emma Levine)
Jutland 1916, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, England (Tina Ediss)           
Handel & Hendrix in London (John Bell)
Gir Lion Lodge, ZSL London Zoo, London (Greg Dickinson)
 
EUROPE
 
The Winner for EUROPE is Coming World Remember Me, Ypres, Belgium (proposed by Tina Ediss). To represent those who lost their lives in Belgium during the First World War, thousands of visitors are moulding 600,000 clay sculptures to create a huge land art installation. The size of a fist, each sculpture bears a dog-tag with the name of one of the victims - plus the name of the person who created it. The project's four main goals are to remember, to help, to reflect and to connect, as well as raising money for children currently trapped in war situations (comingworldrememberme.be/en).
Twitter:
FB: www.facebook.com/comingworldrememberme
www.instagram.com/cwxrm/
 
Highly Commended is the Cité du Vin, Bordeaux, France (nominated by Mary Anne Evans). To explore the world-wide story of wine, this attraction uses new technology to take you on a journey from 6,000 BC to today and from Europe and the New World to Thailand, Japan and Mexico. Step inside stainless steel, oak and glass structures to learn how wine is made; sniff the fragrances in different wines; talk to real and passionate winemakers about their trade (laciteduvin.com/en).
Twitter: @laciteduvin
FB: www.facebook.com/laciteduvin
www.instagram.com/laciteduvin/
 
Also Highly Commended is Chaplin's World, Corsier sur Vevey, Switzerland (proposed by John Malathronas). Mixing culture with entertainment, this multimedia adventure honours Charlie Chaplin, the most illustrious foreign resident of the Swiss Riviera. Learn about the man in the Manoir (where Chaplin spent the last years of his life), embark on a journey through the sets of his greatest films in a Hollywood-style studio (chaplinsworld.com).
Twitter: @chaplins_world
FB: www.facebook.com/chaplinsworld
www.instagram.com/chaplins.world/
 
Merit Awards have gone to the following, placing them among the top 6 new tourism projects in Europe:
Vallisaari Island, Helsinki, Finland (Tim Bird)
Museum of the Johann Strauss Dynasty, Vienna, Austria (Paul Wade)
Elizabethan Theatre, Château d'Hardelot, Condette, France (John Ruler)
 
THE WIDER WORLD
 
The Winner of the WIDER WORLD category is the Sinai Trail/ درب سيناء (nominated by Ben Hoffler). Running for 200km from the Gulf of Aqaba to St Katherine, Egypt, this long-distance public hiking trail seeks to change the image of the region. Managed entirely by local communities, this free, bilingual trail was developed with NGO funding, creating jobs and opportunities for local people. As well as presenting some good news after five years of political turmoil and revolution, this trail also helps document the Sinai's traditional Bedouin knowledge, a rich, still-largely unwritten chapter of our human past (sinaitrail.org).
Twitter: @sinaitrail
FB: www.facebook.com/sinaitrail/
www.instagram.com/sinaitrail/
 
Highly commended is the Mountain Music Trail, West Virginia, USA (nominated by Kathy Arnold), a grass-roots effort to preserve music, dance and folk customs in 5 counties along Highway 219. The 150-mile-long trail links musicians, artists, instrument makers and galleries selling locally-made crafts, plus villages, restaurants and places to stay. Here, only 3.5 hours from Washington DC, hear 'Old Time' fiddle and banjo music, handed down from early settlers (mountainmusictrail.com).
Twitter: @MtnMusicTrail
FB: www.facebook.com/mountainmusictrail
West Virginia
Twitter: @GoToWV
FB: fb.com/GoToWV
Instagram: @GoToWV
 
Also Highly Commended is Limalimo Lodge, Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia (proposed by Lottie Gross), a luxury eco lodge in the stunning Simien Mountains. As well as providing a sublime place to stay, this joint venture of two Ethiopian mountain guides provides jobs for local people, trained to become receptionists, waiters, cooks and more. The lodge is built using an eco-friendly traditional rammed earth method for the walls, with furniture, linen and decor from Ethiopian artisans (limalimolodge.com).
Lottie Gross @lortusfleur
Twitter: @LimalimoLodge
FB: www.facebook.com/limalimolodge/?fref=ts
 
Merit Awards have gone to the following, placing them among the top 5 new tourism projects visited by Guild members in the Wider World category:
Le Monastère des Augustines, Québec, Canada (Gillian Thornton)
Edward M Kennedy Institute for the US Senate, Boston, USA (Paul Wade)
 
“For nearly 40 years these awards have celebrated the diversity and creativity of tourism projects around the world, while emphasising the massive contribution they make to local economies,” said BGTW chairman Alastair McKenzie. “They also demonstrate what a rich resource the knowledgeable, well-travelled members of our 55-year-old organisation offer to commissioning travel editors.”
 
The BGTW (bgtw.org) also presented travel writing and photography awards, selected by an outside jury, to its own members during the evening, which was attended by 300 top travel industry and media representatives.  
 
Note to editors:
Founded 55 years ago, the Guild consists of professional travel writers, editors, photographers, broadcasters and bloggers. Members of the BGTW provide stories and images for a variety of publications and organisations including:
 
Further information/photos: British Guild of Travel Writers' Secretariat: secretariat@bgtw.org, 020 8144 8713.
 
November 6, 2016