The Bushmills Inn Hotel and Restaurant are celebrating after winning the Best Place to Stay – Hotel of the Year at this year’s Northern Ireland Tourism Awards.

The gala ceremony which took place on 14th May at the Sir William Whitla Hall at Queen’s University Belfast, and is regarded as the highlight of the tourism calendar, recognises the most inspirational local accommodation providers and attractions and celebrates the success of the tourism industry over the past year. The 2015 awards spanned nine different categories and had two special awards, reflecting developments and trends within the tourism and hospitality industry.

Speaking on his first official tourism engagement as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment Jonathan Bell said: “Northern Ireland is fortunate to have such a range of ambitious, hard-working and innovative tourism providers, enterprises and stakeholders as demonstrated by the outstanding calibre and range of award winners tonight. This gives me great confidence that Northern Ireland is well equipped to maintain the momentum that has been generated in tourism and that we can continue the drive to increase its economic benefits.”

Alan Walls, General Manager at The Bushmills Inn, said “I’m proud and honoured that The Bushmills Inn has been recognised by esteemed industry professionals for this prestigious award. Our team strive for excellence in all that they do and they have a great passion for the product and service they offer so thank you to them all for their dedication and continuous hard work. Alan added “We are very proud to support tourism in Northern Ireland and are delighted to have been recognised as continually offering such warm hospitality to our many guests”.

Well done to The Bushmills Inn, from all on the Good Food Ireland team! Keep up the good work!