The Irish emigration museum EPIC has been voted Europe’s leading tourist attraction at a global travel industry award ceremony.
The three-year-old project in Dublin’s docklands, picked up the award on Saturday, winning over Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum in Rome.
Other Irish winners of the World Travel Awards include the family-run Sandymount Hotel which received Europe's leading green hotel award for the third year running. Europe's leading distillery tour award went to the Jameson Distillery in Dublin.
Welcoming the award, EPIC founder Neville Isdell said: "I have always believed that the story of Irish people around the world was worth telling, and so, I founded EPIC. When we opened in 2016, we had a vision to create a local museum that could connect globally. It's very important that we honour the Irish diaspora abroad and recognise the vital contributions and monumental impact Irish people have made worldwide." The interactive museum based in the CHQ building expects to welcome over 300,000 visitors this year.
Other winners include St Petersburg in Russia which was voted Europe’s leading city destination while Portugal was voted Europe’s leading destination. Madrid was named Europe’s leading meetings and conference destination, while Batumi, Georgia, was named Europe’s leading emerging tourism destination.
Aeroflot - Russian Airlines was named Europe's leading airline brand; Turkish Airlines was voted Europe's leading airline; and Swiss International Air Lines was voted Europe's leading airline in economy class . Zurich Airport picked up Europe's leading airport.
Hospitality winners include the Hilton whic hwas voted Europe’s leading hotel brand; San Clemente Palace Kempinski, Venice named as Europe’s leading luxury wedding resort; and Pestana Porto Santot, Portugal was named Europe’s leading all-inclusive resort. Other winners include Venice Simplon Orient-Express - Europe’s leading luxury train and The Algarve as Europe’s leading beach destination.
The awards were announced in Maderia on Saturday night and are voted by tourism professionals and consumers worldwide.