English Tourism Week 2023: Four Birmingham attractions scoop top tourism awards

Tourism experts have named two of Birmingham’s popular tourist attractions among the best places to visit in a top awards ranking.

The attractions walked away with gold and silver awards at the glitzy ceremony hosted by Brummie writer and comedian Shazia Mirza at Grand Station in Wolverhampton.

The West Midlands Tourism Awards winners with the gold and silver gongs have automatically qualified for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence to be held later this year - and could be honoured as national champions.

Here are the West Midlands Tourism Awards 2023 Large Visitor Attraction of the Year winners:

Gold: Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) - The popular contemporary arts centre in CannonHill Park boasts a buzzing programme of culture including performances, family events, cinema, arts exhibitions and more. There’s currently a gret exhibition of Grayson’s Art Club where you can delve into the ideas behind the making of the series with its producers adn featured artists. The MAC has a great cafe and bar too. Perfect for refreshment after a stroll around the Victorian gardens.

Silver: NEC - The UK’s largest event space is home to some of Britain’s favourite shows, including the Good Food Show, Crufts, Gardeners World, the Motorhome and Caravan Show - there’s always something of interest on. It boasts 18 exhibition halls and 32 conference suites, and there’s outdoor space too.

Coventry Cathedral won the bronze awards in the Large Visitor Attraction category.

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Winners at the West Midlands Tourism Awards

Silver: Birmingham Back to Backs - This National Trust treasure enables visitors to experience 200 years of working people’s lives in the heart of Birmingham. The carefully restored, atmospheric 19th-century courtyard of working people’s houses is a fascinating place to see

Bronze: Escape Live Birmingham - Here’s where you will find the Official Peaky Blinders escape rooms. Located in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter the attractio prides iteslf on offering a unique form of entertainment in which players venture into a fully immersive world where they must crack codes, solve puzzles and work tgetr to unlock the mystery of the oom and escape. There’s a also a 1920s themed Speakeasy where you can relax and discuss your victory afterwards - or pluck up some courage before you undertake your mission!

The hmv Empire Coventry scooped gold in this category

What West Midlands Tourism Awards chiefs said about all of the 2023 winners

Andrew Lovett OBE, Chair of the West Midlands Tourism & Hospitality Advisory Board, said:“The West Midlands Tourism Awards gave us the perfect opportunity to look back on a momentous year for our region and recognise the contribution that our fantastic sector has made in enhancing the West Midlands’ global profile.

“Together, we congratulated the staff and owners at visitor attractions, accommodation and hospitality venues, who have helped to highlight to a record number of people from around the world the breadth, depth and distinctiveness of our tourism offer.

“This provides an excellent platform on which to build, as tourist volumes continue to recover to their pre-pandemic levels. We acknowledge that there remain ongoing challenges for the sector to address, but we saw at this year’s awards ceremony that we have the talent and ambition to overcome these and continue to make the West Midlands an exciting and popular visitor destination.”