Teesdale entrepreneur in running for VisitEngland award

A Teesdale entrepreneur’s company which provides Mandarin-speaking guides for Chinese visitors to Britain has been shortlisted for a top tourism award.
Beiwei 55, founded two years ago by 26-year-old former Teesdale School pupil Jay Smith, of Barningham, has beaten hundreds of applicants to reach the finals of this year’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.
The company will be competing against three other finalists – Blenheim Palace, the Lake District China Forum and the Lowry Hotel, in Manchester – for the Great Chinese Welcome of the Year title at VisitEngland’s awards ceremony at London’s Hilton Waldorf Hotel on April 24.
Beiwei 55, based in Newcastle and London, was voted the best new business idea in the North-East when NatWest launched its Entrepreneurial Spark scheme on Tyneside last autumn.
Mr Smith set up the company with former classmate Eve Baker after leaving Leeds University with a first-class degree in Chinese and working for a tourist organisation in China.
It now employs seven Mandarin-speaking guides offering tours all across Britain and also provides professional translation, recruitment and corporate event services for companies hosting Chinese visitors.
Mr Smith said: “We’re delighted to have been nominated for the company’s work in welcoming Chinese tourists to the UK.
“Our native British Mandarin-speaking guides are unique and we hope the award nomination will help us grow so that Chinese visitors coming to the UK can have a local, authentic experience with a Mandarin-speaking Brit when visiting all parts of the UK.”
More than 300,000 Chinese tourists visited Britain in 2016 and VisitEngland – formerly known as the English Tourist Board – believes the total could pass the half-million mark this year.
VisitEngland chief executive Sally Balcombe said: “The awards raise raising the profile of England as a world-class destination and driving the economic benefits of tourism across the regions.
 “Awards for Excellence finalists exemplify outstanding tourism talent and distinguished businesses throughout England. We received over 600 truly impressive applications this year and the finalists represent the very best in the industry.”