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Hartlepool lands tourism award for Tall Ships event

Hartlepool Council has scooped a national tourism award for hosting one of the most successful events in the town’s history – The Tall Ships Races 2010.

At a ceremony in Leicester last night (22 May) Hartlepool was awarded an Award in the Best Tourism Event of the Year category of the prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2012. The full results are as follows:

- Aintree John Smiths Grand National, Liverpool, Merseyside
- Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, Bristol
- City Events – Polo in the Park, London
- Larkin with Toads, Yorkshire
- Hartlepool Tall Ships event

Hartlepool reached the national final after winning last year’s North East Tourism Event of the Year award.

Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond said: “It is a major achievement to be recognised in this way and this is testament to all of the hard work by the many organisations and individuals who played their part in making it a success.

“To be considered for Best Tourism Event of the Year alongside the Grand National and other major events in Bristol and London demonstrates that Hartlepool is punching above its weight.

“I firmly believe that Tall Ships was a great event and the profile it brought to the town was unbelievable. It put Hartlepool in the international spotlight and boosted our image enormously.”

Commenting on the finalists James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive, said: “I would like to congratulate all those nominated as VisitEngland Awards for Excellence finalists this year. This is no small achievement in a year when we have received a record number of submissions.

“The quality of submissions this year has been outstanding and Hartlepool Council can justifiably take credit and pride in what they have achieved.”

Hartlepool hosted the final leg of the event when almost 60 vessels sailed into the town from Kristiansand in Norway in August last year. A five-day festival followed which attracted an estimated 970,000 visitors. Hartlepool Borough Council teamed up with PD Ports and Hartlepool Marina to organise the event.

An independent survey carried out afterwards showed that that each visitor to the event in Hartlepool spent an average of £30.59 which generated £26.5m into the local economy.

The report said: “The event has generated awareness and publicity for Hartlepool that will reap benefits in the future. Visitor perceptions of Hartlepool have been enhanced and visitors from Tees Valley, the rest of the North East and the rest of the UK have said that they are very likely or likely to return to Hartlepool.”

Almost all visitors surveyed agreed that the event was a good thing for Hartlepool and that is was good for promoting Hartlepool as a place to visit.

As well as the Tall Ships, other attractions included a four-day festival of live music, firework displays on three evenings, cookery demonstrations, street theatre, a continental market plus various stalls and exhibitions.

Gwyn Brown, Commercial Director with Sail Training International – the overall organisers of The Tall Ships Races – commented at the time: “We’ve received some wonderful feedback from captains and crew members around the world and clearly they thoroughly enjoyed their time in Hartlepool.

Everyone received a great welcome in Hartlepool and left with a positive impression of the town and the surrounding area.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Michelle Daurat .