Awards All Around

Awards All Round!

Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm is the proud winner of three Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards.

After much anticipation the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Award winners were announced via Zoom on Thursday 18th March 2021, with the best tourist attractions rewarded for all their hard work over this challenging year.

The first ever virtual ceremony for the Tourism Awards took place via zoom where each finalist was encouraged to wear black tie. This resulted in an unusual combination of work wear and formal clothing for the team at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. Larry and Rhian represented the zoo at the special online ceremony and truly entered the spirit of the event. 

Rhian, Customer Experience and Events Coordinator, said “It was certainly a unique experience to wear a dress with welly boots along with waterproofs. However, it reflects the diversity of the work we do here and made us all smile in what has been an extremely challenging year.”

Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm was proud to win not one but three prestigious awards. A Silver Award for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year, a Gold Award for Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Tourism and finally a Gold Award for Accessible and Inclusive Tourism.

This is not the first time the zoo has won awards for its Sustainable Tourism efforts. Noah’s Ark is hugely devoted to teaching the next generation about the importance of protecting and conserving the natural world as well as teaching young people practical skills through their volunteer and work experience programmes. Recently, Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm planted over 5,500 trees on their 110-acre site as well as installing over 100 new nest boxes for native birds.

The team were particularly thrilled to have received the Gold Award for Accessible and Inclusive Tourism after a huge push by the zoo to become accessible for all visitors. In recent years they have installed a Changing Places toilet complete with hoist and changing bed as well as improving their car park to make it more accessible to wheelchair users. The Noah’s Ark Team have also undertaken training in Autism, mental health awareness and British Sign Language.

Larry Bush, Managing Director, said “We are absolutely thrilled to have received these awards which highlight the dedication of our talented and hard-working team. It’s a huge honour to be recognised for our progress as a green tourist attraction and an inclusive and accessible zoo.”