The annual tourism awards for Suffolk and Norfolk are back – and with them a fantastic opportunity to showcase and celebrate our most valuable industry sector and the brilliant businesses and people that give enjoyment to millions of visitors and customers every year.

Their return comes after publishers Local IQ decided not to go ahead with the East of England Tourism Awards, which has been run across Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire for the past few years.

The new awards will be run by Visit East of England (VEE) under the new Suffolk and Norfolk Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) and working with local Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and authorities.

Finalists in the Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards will go forward to the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence next Spring.

'It's obviously disappointing that the regional awards are not going ahead with Local IQ as they gave invaluable promotion to the sector,' said VEE Executive Director Pete Waters. 'Nonetheless, working with our partners, we're really happy to bring back the awards for Suffolk and Norfolk and to ensure we put entries forward to the national event, where we've had success in recent years, not least with Watatunga and ROARR!'

Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards 2024-25 categories

• Camping, Glamping Holiday Park of the Year
• Visitor Attraction of the Year
• Experience of the Year
• Small Serviced Accommodation of the Year
• Hotel of the Year
• Self-catering Accommodation of the Year
• Pub of the Year
• New Business Tourism Award
• Taste of England Award
• Unsung hero of the Year Award

Opening date for entries is Wednesday, September 11th

Closing date for entries is Sunday, September 22nd at midnight

The awards will be launched to Visit East of England's 10k business database shortly, and through the social media channels of VEE, Visit Suffolk and Visit Norfolk, and also look out for promotion from the local destination organisations.

The return of the Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards comes just a month after Visit East of England were given VisitEngland accreditation to run the area's official LVEP.

An awards page on Visit East of England will be updated as more details of the awards are released.

For further comment or questions, please email pete@visiteastofengland.com