Burnham-On-Sea just missed out on winning the top prize at the National Coach Tourism Awards in Blackpool last night (Thursday) – but was named as one of the UK’s top six coach destinations.
Burnham – which recently received official ‘coach friendly status’ – made the top six in the finals of the national competition.
The awards, run by trade magazine Coach Monthly, saw Burnham competing against Bournemouth, the Isle of Man, Skipton, Southport and Tavistock – with the overall winner named as the Isle of Man.
Last year, Burnham was named as a finalist in the category ‘coach friendliest town or city’. This year, the category changed to ‘Coach Friendliest Destination’ to cover regions, islands and countries.
Ian Jefferies, Business and Tourism Manager, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We are chuffed that Burnham is seen as being one of the top six coach-friendly destinations in the UK. Les Barber, our destination manager, and I are delighted to have been given this recognition for all the work carried out in Burnham-On Sea.”
“With the category change this year we knew it would be a tough ask to compete with some of the larger areas that entered.”
“It shows we can go further and we must sit down and re-group our plans for the future to improve on the fantastic work already carried out. A big thank you also goes to the businesses and groups that have helped us.”
Burnham and Highbridge Mayor Martin Cox said: “It’s an amazing achievement following on from getting the flag for coach-friendly status. My congratulations go to the coach team on getting to the final six with another high-profile good news story that will encourage even more coaches into our town.”
