What are the categories?
There are 15 regional and three national categories in this year’s programme. Each celebrates the best in tourism and those providing outstanding visitor experiences.
Celebrating the best in the business
Innovation, collaboration, and sustainable practices
The Scottish Thistle Awards are an important celebration of the best of our tourism and events industry. They recognise those businesses, events, and individuals who work hard to change, innovate, and adapt to create the warm destination and visitor experience that Scotland is famous for.
How to go from nomination to award
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Awards launch and nominations
Before our entries open, nominations are a chance for visitors to have their say on which tourism businesses and events have stood out to them. Once a business has been nominated, we'll let them know and encourage them to enter and be in with a chance of winning a coveted Scottish Thistle Award.
Nominations for our 2025 programme will open on Monday 3 March.
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Entries open
Any tourism business or event - whether they have been nominated or not - can enter the Scottish Thistle Awards.
Entries for our 2025 programme open on Monday 17 March.
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Shortlisting begins
We have a panel of independent industry experts who judge all entries during May and June.
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The regional awards take place
Scotland's full of excellent businesses, so we work with regional partners to deliver each award night.
Every autumn, five regional events take place:
- Central and East Regional Final (delivered by VisitScotland)
- West Regional Final (delivered by VisitScotland)
- Find out more about the Highland and Islands Tourism Awards (HITA) on hita-awards.com
- Find out more about the Aberdeen City and Shire Tourism Awards (ACSTA) on actsa.co.uk
- Find out more about the South of Scotland Thistle Awards at ssdalliance.com
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Celebrating the national final
Winners from each regional award ceremony progress to our national final which this year was held in Glasgow on the 21 November 2024. At the national final, the overall winner is announced for each category as well as our Silver Thistle Award.
- best B&B or guesthouse experience
- best bar or pub
- best eating experience
- best hotel experience
- best outdoor and adventure experience
- best self-catering accommodation experience
- best visitor attraction
- celebrating thriving communities
- climate action award
- inclusive tourism award
- innovation in tourism
- outstanding cultural event or festival
- tourism and hospitality employer of the year
- tourism individual of the year
- *NEW* rising star award
- best business event
- best luxury experience
- outstanding sporting event
What are the benefits of winning a Thistle Award?
A new advert featuring some of our previous winners from Scotland’s premier tourism and events awards aired on STV in August 2024.
Hear from 2023 national winners Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick, Arden Holiday Cottages in Dumfries, and Wilderness Scotland in Aviemore what winning a Scottish Thistle Award means to them.
Who can apply for an award?
Accommodation
This includes B&Bs, hotels, guesthouses, inns, restaurants with rooms, farmhouses and more.
Food and drink
Pubs, restaurants, eateries and food providers.
Outdoor
Those delivering engaging experiences with our landscapes and local communities.
Visitor attractions
This includes all of Scotland's attractions that warmly welcome visitors.
Communities
Those working in partnership and collaborations within Scotland's communities.
Events
These include cultural events and festivals, business events and more.
Our media partnership
We've once again secured a media partnership with News Scotland for the 2024 awards. News Scotland are publishers of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Scottish Sun.
This partnership will raise the profile of the Scottish Thistle Awards through print and online content. This boosts the profile of the awards, the winners and nominees and encourages businesses to enter.
Press activity from this partnership will appear in a range of publications. This will include Alba, Times Scotland, the Sunday Times and the Scottish Sun. This creates many opportunities to celebrate award participants up to, and including, the awards nights.
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