The team responsible for ensuring visitors keep flooding in to Leicester's museums, galleries and other attractions is in the running for a national tourism award - and the winner is determined by a public vote. VisitEngland’s Tourism Superstar 2025 highlights the work of the "unsung heroes of English Tourism", and Leicester City Council's museums and galleries team has made it to the final 10 contenders.

The council said the team had been selected because of its "dedication to promoting Leicester’s history and heritage, while bringing the members’ own fantastic personalities and specialist knowledge to what they do". The team is responsible for attractions such as the King Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Abbey Pumping Station, Belgrave Hall, Leicester Guildhall and the Newarke Houses Museum.

Its nomination means groups or individuals from Leicester and Leicestershire have now been nominated three times in the past four years. Announcing the nomination, the city council set out why it believed its team deserved to win.

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It said: "Featured members of the team include King Richard III Visitor Centre customer service assistant Ranjit Chaggar, whose Instagram page is full of beautiful images of Leicester which are used across social media and in promotional materials. Customer service assistant Joe Robey is the team’s local ‘sword master’, delivering exciting visitor engagement activities and talks on medieval armour and weapons.

"The digital team, led by Kerem Cetindamar, works to broaden access to both the museum venues and websites. They have done this through introducing British Sign Language welcome videos at two museum sites, including subtitles on all of their video content and developing audio descriptive galley guides for visitors with sight impairment.

"More than 400 volunteers from the local community work with the team to provide a deep and personal knowledge of the local area. Managed by Cat Hallsworth, teams of volunteers lead visitors through the incredible history of some of the city’s most fascinating buildings, uncovering incredible stories from more than 600 years of local history.

"A volunteer-led project scanning and recording archive photographs has brought more than 100,000 photos back into the public eye, images that have never been seen in public before. The volunteer skills development programme has helped local young people looking to move into work develop much needed skills.

"The team as a whole work collaboratively with all of Leicester's heritage institutions and as the visible face of ‘Visit Leicester’ are dedicated to promoting the historical significance of the city and county to visitors and tourists. This is particularly true of the front of house staff at King Richard III Visitor Centre who double as the Visit Leicester Information Centre, which is where many tourists make their first stop on their visit to Leicester."

Joanna Jones, head of arts and museums at the city council, said: “We’re so proud to be representing Leicester and Leicestershire in this year’s Tourism Superstar competition. We’re up against some amazing competitors from the whole of England’s tourism industry, so really need the votes from our friends, colleagues, visitors, supporters and local residents."

VisitEngland director Andrew Stokes said: “Tourism Superstar is all about finding the real stars in our industry and shining the spotlight on the people who go above and beyond to make visits to our wonderful attractions and destinations memorable. The competition also showcases how varied and diverse tourism is across England.

"From curating incredible experiences for visitors at our museums, art galleries and animal conservation attractions to volunteers bringing heritage to life through storytelling, these finalists are already superstars who go out of their way to provide an outstanding welcome and who deliver for all. Please do check out the videos, vote for your favourite and be part of deciding who will take the VisitEngland Tourism Superstar 2025 crown.”

VisitEngland’s Tourism Superstar 2025 finalists are:

  • Andy Yeoman of Dartmoor Zoo, Devon
  • Ben Francis of Roarr!, Norfolk
  • Zeb Fisher of Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, Isle of Wight
  • Hannah Clapp of Muncaster Castle, Gardens and Hawk & Owl Centre, Cumbria
  • Wendy Wilshere of 11Arches/Kynren, County Durham
  • Southampton Saints of City of Southampton Port volunteers, Hampshire
  • Steve Johnson of Scarborough North Bay Railway, North Yorkshire
  • Graham Barclay of Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park, Gloucestershire
  • Max Sadgrove of Adventure Island, Essex
  • The team at Leicester Museums & Galleries, Leicestershire.

The winner will be announced at the end of English Tourism Week, which runs from Friday to Sunday, March 14 to Sunday, March 23. The Tourism Superstar award will be presented in person at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence event in the summer. To cast your vote go to the VisitEngland website. Voting is open between now and Saturday, March 22.

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