The Roman Baths, one of Bath’s most popular heritage highlights, has been rated by its visitors as one of the UK’s best tourism attractions.
For the second year in a row, customers of CIE Tours International, which runs quality coach tours from its base in Dublin, have voted to award the Roman Baths one of the company’s coveted Silver Merit Awards of Excellence for the quality of visitor experience.
The Roman Baths was one of only three visitor attractions in England to win the prestigious award – alongside Windsor Castle and The Tower of London.
Every year, CIE Tours asks its 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 Silver 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 Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “For the second year running, the Roman Baths has been voted an excellent day out by visitors travelling with CIE Tours. Only two or three visitor attractions in the British Isles receive this rare Award of Excellence each year so we’re delighted to have won it again and I’m immensely proud of the Roman Baths team.
“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 Silver Merit Award of Excellence was presented to the Roman Baths at an awards ceremony held in Glasgow on Thursday 18th April.
Brian Stack, Managing Director of CIE Tours International, said: “Since 1932, CIE Tours has brought in excess of three million visitors to Ireland. Over the last few years we have been extending our offer throughout the UK which offers many attractive destinations for our customers, many of whom are from North America.
“Our customers, quite rightly, have very high standards and high expectations for their visit to the UK and these awards recognise those suppliers who deliver on and, in many cases, exceed those expectations.”
