The CWGC Experience named as finalist in international tourism awards

The CWGC Experience, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) visitor centre, has been announced as a finalist in the Europe category of the British Guild of Travel Writers’ International Tourism Awards 2019.

The prestigious awards recognise excellence in tourism projects in three categories: ‘UK and Ireland’, ‘Europe’, and ‘Wider World’. Guild members nominated projects that have opened, or started, within the last three years and which they believe deserve wider recognition.

The CWGC Experience gives visitors an up close and intimate look at the teams that work painstakingly to care for the 1.7 million casualties from the First and Second World Wars.

Visitors will get a behind the scenes look at the CWGC workshop in Beaurains, France, with a free audio guide that covers each aspect of the work we do: from the story of how we still recover and rebury the dead today, to the skilled artisan craftsmen at work maintaining the world's most impressive and recognisable monuments and memorials.

After opening on 26 June 2019, the centre has received over 3000 visitors and has a TripAdvisor score of 5.0 from 27 reviews.

Victoria Wallace, CWGC Director General, says: “It’s an enormous accolade to find ourselves up for an award from the Travel Writers’ Guild. We are so thankful to have been nominated and are happy our focus on telling our story in a way that visitors would find compelling has paid off. We wanted to ensure that the whole visitor journey from arriving in the car or the coach, to sitting down the coffee shop, was one which would delight and surprise people, and inspire them to visit our cemeteries and memorials. Win or lose, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate the work of the fantastic team who pulled together to deliver the project and hope that as many people as possible will now cross the channel for the day and see what they’ve done.”

The CWGC Experience was nominated by travel writer and BGTW member John Ruler. Commenting on the project, he says: “We all know the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission through both the Great War Commemorations and more recently the D-Day Landings. But do we? Not really, confesses the commission, which is why in June this year it opened the CWGC Experience located just south of Arras in Pas de Calais, France, a drive of an hour or so from Calais. Described, as ‘emphatically not a museum’ it offers a unique chance for a family audience to watch, and chat with, specialist craftsmen, be it firing up a forge to restore bronze gates or putting 21st century technology to work on creating or cleaning headstones.”

Simon Willmore, BGTW chairman, says: “Each year we invite our members to nominate tourism projects that they feel deserve a wider notice. This year the nominations cover a remarkably wide range of tourism projects, an indication of the continuing move to develop the visitor experience in countries across the world, and an indication of the breadth of activity carried out by our members.”

The winners of the BGTW International Tourism Awards will be announced on 3 November at the BGTW Annual Gala Awards Dinner at The Savoy hotel in central London. The British Guild of Travel Writers is a community of accredited writers, photographers, and broadcasters; the trusted body for independent editorial comment and expert content on worldwide travel.

The winners of the BGTW International Tourism Awards will be announced on 3 November at the BGTW Annual Gala Awards Dinner at The Savoy hotel in central London. The British Guild of Travel Writers is a community of accredited writers, photographers, and broadcasters; the trusted body for independent editorial comment and expert content on worldwide travel.