Small Visitor Attraction of the
Year Award
Headline Sponsor
www.shepherdneame.co.uk
Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Award
Who can enter?
This category covers all visitor attractions with fewer than 50,000 visitors a year, including
those attractions that offer pre-booked tickets, house museums, garden shops, interpretation
centres, theme parks, historic houses and castles; but not retail outlets or venues for sporting,
theatrical, or film performances.
Attractions must be signed up to the Code of Practice for Visitor Attractions and may well be
part of the VAQAS standard or Place of Interest Quality Assurance Scheme. Participants are
encouraged to use reports from such schemes as supporting evidence. (If not signed up to the
Code of Practice we can help arrange this for you).
You may submit one electronic PDF or word document (not lots of files in one folder) as
supporting evidence. This is voluntary and NOT essential for the Beautiful South Awards but will
be required for any entrant that goes through to the VisitEngland Awards. If submitted the
document should be less than 5 MB in size and the information provided should be used to
illustrate points made in your entry form.
Judges will increasingly refer to your website for additional information and verification,
including evidence of environmental and access policies.
Contact Details
Contact Name:
Business Name:
Address:
Telephone number:
Email:
Twitter:
Website address:
PR contact (if different):
Business Details
Are you a member of VAQAS, date obtained?
Have you signed the National Code of Practice for Visitor Attractions, date obtained?
Please give details of any awards received in the last two years. Please give title, awarding
organisation, date and level.
Please state any periods each year when your property is closed
Please state how long you have been running as a business
Please state how many staff you employ (full and part time)
Please give a brief history of your attraction (max 200 words)
Visitor numbers
Please provide your visitor numbers for the last 12 months and how this compares to the
previous year? Please comment on any changes or trends. How many of your visitors were
school visitors?
Please insert period that your figures cover eg Jan Last 12 months
to Dec 2013 or April 12 to March 13 etc
Total visitor numbers for year
What percentage was repeat business, if known?
%
Visitors during peak season (April to September)
Visitors during low season (October to March)
Previous year
%
Section 1: Commitment to Excellence
a) Please describe your values, philosophy and commitment to excellence and tell us what
you think puts you above the competition and at the top of your sector.
(max 300 words)
Don’t forget
In your answer think about the following:
 What are your unique selling points?
 What makes you the best?
b) Please demonstrate how you ensure the highest quality visitor experience and outstanding
customer service is provided before, during and after your guests visit. Please give examples.
(max 300 words)
Don’t forget
In your answer think about the following:
 How you deal with enquiries, bookings and complaints, welcome, the visit and
departure
 Information you provide to visitors
 Customer care and welcome
 Facilities and services you provide
 Interpretation and educational aspects
 How you go the extra mile to exceed your visitors’ expectations
c) Please give details of any improvements and developments that you have made to your
business to enhance your guests experience over the last 2 years and explain the impact this
has had.
(max 300 words)
Don’t forget
In your answer think about the following:
 Any refurbishments, improvements, extra facilities or services you provide
 The impact on your business eg more customers, % increase in positive feedback
 How you collect and use customer feedback
 Awards and accreditations you have achieved
Section 2: Accessibility
Give details of how your attraction is accessible to all its customers including:
1. Customer service
2. Accessibility information provision and promotion
3. Accessible facilities and services.
(max 200 words)
Don’t forget
In your answer think about the following:
 Your Access Statement (please attach or give link to it on your website)
 How accessible is your website?
 Changes you have implemented
 Accessibility training eg Welcome All
 Facilities/services for all types of customers including families, elderly, less mobile etc
 How you promote the accessibility of your attraction
 Give examples of how you have looked after a disabled guest
Section 3: Sustainability
Please describe what actions you have taken to improve the sustainability of your attraction.
(max 300 words)
Don’t forget
In your answer make sure you cover all of the following:
 Environment – managing water/energy and reducing waste
 How you involve the local community in your experience/business
 How you support your local economy eg buying local produce, suppliers, employment




How you encourage employees to get involved
How do you encourage guests to act in an environmentally responsible way and how do
you promote this eg use of public transport
How you promote your sustainability eg on your website
Make sure you mention any accreditations (eg GTBS)
Section 4: Innovative Marketing
Please describe your target market and explain briefly how you attract new and repeat business,
including any innovative promotional campaigns and what impact they have had.
(max 300 words)
Don’t forget
In your answer think about the following:
 Your marketing plan & how you attract new and/or repeat visits
 Your marketing materials
 Any innovative promotional campaigns you have run, including online
 How you optimise your website to achieve maximum impact
 How you engage with your customers online eg blogs, website reviews, social media
 How you use customer testimonials and feedback
 Results and the impact the above have had on your business (eg numbers, spend,
satisfaction)
 NB Judges will separately look at websites on PCs and tablets, along with use of social
media etc
Section 5: Staff Training and Development
Please give details of your staff (or your own) training and development activities during the
past two years.
(max 200 words)
Don’t forget
In your answer think about the following:
 Your training plan
 Staff inductions and appraisals
 Types of training you/your staff have attended or awards won (eg Welcome Host,
Investors in People)
 How do your staff remain motivated and feel part of the team
 How training has improved your customers’ experience


How you keep your/your staff skills up to date on developments local information, etc
Don’t forget that proprietors and managers are staff too!
Please note that it is a requirement of entry that entrants agree to waive or refund the
admission and catering cost of a mystery visit should the entry be successful in being short
listed and should a mystery visit be arranged. A mystery visit will normally comprise a visit
for 2 guests (or up to 4 for a family attraction), possibly including a meal, depending on the
nature of the attraction. Receipt of your entry is taken as agreement to this requirement.
Feedback will be available on request.
Please return your entry as a word document BY EMAIL ATTACHMENT to
awards@beautifulsouthawards.co.uk.
Future communications will be from Nell Barrington, Services for Tourism Ltd, who is managing
the Beautiful South Awards on behalf of Tourism South East. Nell’s email address is:
awards@beautifulsouthawards.co.uk. Please add this address to your address book, to avoid
communications being treated as Spam/Junk; if you do not add this address and are awaiting
news please ensure you check your Spam/Junk folders to see if news is being filtered out.
Please tick one of the following:
□
I am a member of Tourism South East. My membership number and date of
membership is _______________________
□
I am applying as a non member for entrance into the Beautiful South Awards and
understand that I will be invoiced for £65 plus VAT*.
*The non member fee includes entrance into two categories in the Awards programme – plus
the Sustainability and Access categories. Payment must be made before the awards closing
date otherwise your awards entry will not be submitted for judging.
What happens next?
Initial judging will be based on the information provided within the application form along
with your website and other information sources. Approximately three to five businesses
will be short listed in the first stage of judging. Short listed businesses may be visited
(mystery shopped where possible).
Good Luck!