The Roman Baths, managed by Bath & North East Somerset Council, has been rated by its visitors as one of the UK’s best tourism attractions for the third year in a row.
Customers of CIE Tours International, which runs quality coach tours from its base in Dublin, have again voted to award the Roman Baths one of the company’s coveted UK Merit Awards of Excellence for the quality of visitor experience.
The Roman Baths was one of only seven visitor attractions in England to win the prestigious award – alongside Windsor Castle and The Tower of London.
Every year, CIE Tours asks its thousands of clients to mark the hotels, restaurants, visitor attractions and events that they experience on their tours – which cover the whole of Ireland and the UK, as well as further afield. Only the small number of those which receive an overall mark of 90% or more are awarded a UK Merit Award of Excellence in the CIE Awards – known in Ireland as the “Tourism Oscars”.
The Award of Excellence reflects the Council’s commitment to keeping the Roman Baths a favourite among visitors by making improvements such as innovative interpretation; helping people to imagine life in Roman Bath, conservation that improves the look of the monument and protects it for future generations, and a wide range of access measures including new lifts and inclusive interpretation.
Councillor Ben Stevens (Lib-Dem, Widcombe), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “The Roman Baths has been voted an excellent day out by visitors travelling with CIE Tours for the third year in a row. Only a small number of visitor attractions in the British Isles achieve this rare Award of Excellence each year so we’re delighted to have won it three times now and I’m immensely proud of the Roman Baths team.
Lib-Dem Widcombe
Cabinet member for Sustainable Development.
“We value this award highly as it reflects the views of a huge number of our overseas visitors. It shows that Bath & North East Somerset Council’s on-going investment in the Roman Baths is continuing to improve the experience and give our visitors a truly excellent day out.”
The UK Merit Award of Excellence was presented to the Roman Baths at an awards ceremony held in Glasgow on Wednesday 2 April.
CIE Tours brought 11,000 visitors to the UK in 2013 and is anticipating an increase of 35% in visitors this year. The Company is working with 259 tourism partners in the UK, 79 of which are hotels and 180 are visitor attractions.
Commenting on the Company’s growth in the UK, Brian Stack, Managing Director of CIE Tours International, said: “Our Merit Awards recognise that our continued growth is due to the efforts of thousands of people up and down the country – such as the Roman Baths team – who are focused on providing excellent service.”
For more information about Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Roman Baths visit www.romanbaths.co.uk or call 01225 477774.
