Tiqets, a leading booking partner for museums and attractions, has opened up nominations for this year’s international industry awards programme.
As in previous years, attractions from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the US are in the running, alongside venues from Germany, Portugal and the UAE for the first time.
Attractions and museums are invited to nominate themselves for the Best Hidden Gem and Most Innovative Venue Awards.
Outstanding innovations
The Best Hidden Gem Award is dedicated to venues that are outstanding or special, designed to celebrate the lesser-known and more niche attractions that travellers should discover. Previous winners of the accolade include Artechouse, Museo Chillida Leku, and the Velazquez Tech Museum.
The Most Innovative Venue Award has been won by prestigious institutions including Paris Montparnasse Top of the City, Remastered and Mostra di Leonardo. The diverse prize encourages attractions to try and test new ideas, such as sustainable initiatives, creative marketing strategies, or new technologies.
Tiqets says: “Innovation is finding ways to be creative and unique that are also modern and up-to-date. This award is about spotlighting museums and attractions that found new and original ways to appeal to customers.”
The Best Hidden Gem and Most Innovative Venue categories will be judged by industry experts including Arival CEO Douglas Quinby; web director for Viajes National Geographic Javier Zori, and industry manager Patrick O’Shaughnessy of Visit Scotland.
Both these awards are open to all museums and attractions, and venues do not currently need to be working with Tiqets to be eligible.
Other categories include Best Attraction, Best Museum, Best Onsite Experiences, Most Remarkable Venue, and Best Landmark, which will be decided through more than one million customer reviews found on the Tiqets.com website. Nominees for these categories will be announced by the end of September.
Uncovering special venues
Previous winners have benefited from extensive PR in top publications such as National Geographic and Conde Nast Traveller. This year, winners will also receive a virtual badge on their Tiqets.com profile recommending them to prospective customers.
Tiqets CEO Laurens Leurink says: “The world’s appetite for travel and culture is back! We are proud to offer hundreds of museums and attractions across the globe the chance to reach new visitors by being named the Best Hidden Gem or Most Innovative Venue in their country.
“These awards celebrate niche, unique and off-the-beaten-track venues as well as those pushing the boundaries to engage visitors in new and exciting ways. We are excited to help uncover these special venues and share them with the world.
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Application-based categories are now open to venues until 8 September 2022. Businesses interested in applying can download an application form from the Tiqets website.
Winners from previous years include Casa Batlló (Barcelona, Spain) and the Royal Liver Building 360 Experience (Liverpool, England).
