EIGHT Local businesses have been shortlisted in this year’s Visit Herefordshire Tourism Awards.

Now In its third year and following a year of record number of 8.42million visitors to Herefordshire, the local businesses are among 74 finalists across the county have been shortlisted in over 16 award categories and are now one step closer to receiving regional accolades.

The eight local finalist businesses include Yat Pottery in the Accessible & Inclusive Tourism Award; Both the The New Inn at St Owens Cross and The Crown Inn at Lea are included in the Pub of the Year category; the Drovers Rest at Dorstone has been shortlisted in the Wedding Venue of the Year; Haywood Farm Caravan and Camping Park at Gorsley and the Doward Park Campsite at Symonds Yat West are included in the Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year.

The owners of the Oldfield Forge at Garway have been shortlisted in both the Visitor Attraction of the Year and Experience of the Year categories.

And the Plantation Villa UK at Kings Caple has also been shortlisted in the Regenerative Tourism Award and Experience of the Year categories.

All businesses are through to the next round of judging, during which independent industry professionals will conduct site visits and assessments to determine the top entries in each category.

The winners will then be revealed at Visit Herefordshire’s Tourism Awards Event early in March 2027 and 13 national categories will automatically be shortlisted for the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence later that year.

Six of the winners from last year went on to win awards, four of which went on to win gold at the VisitEngland Awards which goes to show that the awards not only shine a light on the best of Herefordshire’s thriving tourism sector but also provide a great opportunity for the passion and hard work of those tourism businesses to be celebrated on a national stage.

Diane Mansell, Chief Executive of Herefordshire County BID and Visit Herefordshire, said: “While only in its third year the ripple effect of the Visit Herefordshire Tourism Awards is really beginning to show with over a third of this year’s entrants taking part for the first time which is really exciting.

“This year we saw Herefordshire tourism businesses go on to win the most gold accolades of any region at the VisitEngland Awards. It’s brilliant to see this has motivated many other businesses to put themselves forward this year.

“We are a county where in 2025 tourism made up 24.6 per cent of the total Herefordshire economy valued at a record breaking £830m, an increase of 7.2 per cent year-on-year.

“We’re on track for Herefordshire’s tourism to be become a billion-dollar market for us by 2035, so there’s a lot to celebrate.”

The Visit Herefordshire Tourism Awards span 16 tourism-related categories. including accommodation, visitor attractions, food and drink, sustainability and accessibility. Producer of the year is a new local award category being introduced this year.