Irish eyes are smiling on the Roman Baths as the popular visitor attraction has won another prestigious award – this time from a major player in Irish tourism.
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.
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, and also go 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.
Previously only given to Irish tourism businesses, the CIE awards are known in Ireland as the “Tourism Oscars”. This is the first year that Great British visitor attractions have been eligible for the accolade, and only eight attractions out of the hundreds of UK sites that were visited last year have reached the exacting criteria for an award.
The Silver Merit Award of Excellence reflects the Council’s commitment to keeping the Roman Baths a favourite among visitors by making improvements such as modern 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: “We value this award highly because it reflects the views of a significant sector of our overseas visitors. It shows that Bath & North East Somerset Council’s recent investment in the attraction has proved successful in improving the experience, giving our visitors a truly excellent day out. These recent improvements have helped to make 2011 the most successful year at the Roman Baths for a generation.“
The award was presented to the Roman Baths during a visit to Bath by CIE Tour International staff, where they saw for themselves the recent developments at the Roman Baths that have gone down so well with their customers.
Conor Wall, Quality Control Manager at CIE Tours International, emphasised that only a small handful of attractions reach the exacting standard required of the awards. He said: “It is impressive that the Roman Baths is included in this elite group and it was an absolute delight to see the recently-refurbished site for myself.“
