South West company the first to achieve Outstanding accreditation for a travel award

The Awards Trust Mark scheme is a not-for-profit accreditation programme run by The Independent Awards Standards Council with the goal of enhancing trust between those entering awards schemes and the organizations running them. Devon-based Services for Tourism is the first business to be awarded an Outstanding Trust Mark for the Tourism Awards they run across the region.

To gain the accreditation the directors signed up to a code of conduct, meeting eighteen criteria and the application was validated by calls to randomly selected awards judges and entrants. 

Madeleine Marquiss, on behalf of The Independent Awards Standards Council, said: “Your references were particularly glowing and your awards scheme is a great example to others”.

Robin Barker, Director of Services for Tourism, was delighted to achieve this top-level recognition: “We were delighted to win Gold in 2019 and to go above and beyond to get Outstanding in such a tough year is brilliant news for everyone involved – the team, our 50+ judges, sponsors and the wider industry.  Excellence and Resilience go hand-in-hand and it is more important now than ever for everyone to be innovating and looking after customers, staff and the wider community”.

Comments from recent entrants include: “Just going through the awards application process has been an amazing experience.  It’s helped me analyse my small business in ways which I’m not sure I otherwise would have and it’s all led to so many positive changes and improvements that it feels like we’ve achieved loads before we even click the ‘Submit Entry’ button!" and “The process is straightforward and the feedback is priceless”.

The tourism awards across South West and South East England are open until 31 August when an independent judging panel will begin their work selecting the best of the best.  Winners will be announced, and celebrations are planned for early next year, with regional winners in most categories nominated for the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.