Top 'Visit England' accolades for five York attractions

York’s JORVIK Group of Attractions is celebrating after each of its five attractions achieved top accolades from Visit England as part of its national Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme (VAQAS).

Under the scheme, visitor attractions are monitored for quality by independent assessors, to achieve coveted VAQAS status and permits the attractions to display the Quality Rose Mark – the visitor attraction equivalent of a ‘star’ rating.  This offers visitors reassurance that the attraction will be of a high standard.  Additional accolades are granted to the top 20 attractions nationally within a number of different categories, and each of the JORVIK Group’s five attractions ranked in the top 20 in their relevant category.

The individual accolades were:

• JORVIK Viking Centre achieved the VAQAS Gold Award for overall high quality standards
• DIG was highlighted with a ‘Welcome’ award for excellence in customer care
• Barley Hall and the new Richard III Experience at Monk Bar both received the ‘Best Told Story’ accolade
• The Henry VII Experience at Micklegate Bar received one of the first ‘Hidden Gem’ accolades.

“Winning one of these accolades would have been marvellous, but for all five to receive their own national recognition is absolutely superb,” comments Sarah Maltby, director of attractions for the JORVIK Group.  “We are particularly proud of our new attractions – the Richard III and Henry VII Experiences – which make absolutely fantastic use of the space within the city’s historic bars to add two compelling, complementary and now award-winning visitor attractions to York’s tourist product.”

Kate McMullen of Visit York added: “York prides itself on being a world-class destination and it’s great to see all five of the JORVIK Group attractions being recognised for excellence, across content, interpretation and customer service.  These national accolades help to us to spread the word about York not just locally but on a national and international stage, inspiring holidaymakers as well as conference organisers to choose York.”

The JORVIK team is also waiting to find out if the annual JORVIK Viking Festival will achieve success in the Welcome To Yorkshire White Rose Awards, where it has been shortlisted for ‘Best Event’.  The winner will be announced at a gala dinner on 11 November 2014.

For more information about attractions within the JORVIK Group, please visit www.thejorvikgroup.com

ENDS

For further media information or photographs, please contact:

Jay Commins

Pyper York Limited

Tel:         01904 500698

Email:    jay@pyperyork.co.uk