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We have had a fantastic start to our 2024 season which has seen us win two fabulous accolades.
We were firstly awarded ‘Service Excellence’ for Scotland at the FSB – Federation Of Small Businesses. This award gives recognition for businesses that goes above and beyond, plus great dedication in putting their customers first. FSB Highlands & Islands development manager David Richardson said: “I met Brian and Marie in Lerwick in November and was instantly drawn to their warm and welcoming natures and their passion for their business. “I’m absolutely delighted – but not surprised to see them win our service excellence award”. We now go onto the UK Finals to be held in Blackpool in May.
On the back of this, we heard the news that we had received Green Tourism ‘Gold’. In October 2022, we were the first boat tour operator to announce publicly that we were ‘awaiting grading’. We worked extremely hard that year on our sustainable practices which we submitted as evidence onto our online green tourism assessment. Early 2023 we received the delightful news that we had been awarded ‘Silver’. We worked hard again throughout 2023 on our practices which we again submitted as evidence and delighted early 2024, to be award ‘Gold’. As Green Tourism advocates, we will continue to monitor our practices and update our online assessment as and when changes take place.
For our ‘Service Excellence’ accolade, we were due to attend Bute House in Edinburgh to collect our award. We unfortunately couldn’t make it, but we were delighted to have onboard our local MSP Beatrice Wishart presenting us with our trophy. Beatrice came along just before we headed out for our first tour of the season and spent time chatting to our passengers.
As we received our Green Tourism ‘Gold’ plaque at the same time, she wanted to award and congratulate us for both.
Thank you Shetland Times for sharing our successes, greatly appreciated.
We look forward to heading to Blackpool in just under three weeks time to attend the FSB UK finals. We are up against 11 other UK regional winners for this category and even if we don’t win, to get this far is an incredible achievement and a testament to our approach in working responsibly, ethically and sustainably. The awards ceremony presents us with opportunities to collaborate with many other like minded businesses.