Tourism Award

"TIM has embodied everything that is best in entrepreneurial skills in producing an attraction that Britain can truly be proud of," said Richard Tobias, last year's winner of the Tourism Award.

His fellow judges agreed. And so the 2001 Caterer & Hotelkeeper Tourism Award went to Tim Smit, chief executive of the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Linda Astbury, judge and winner of the 1998 Tourism Award, added: "He had a vision, and this project is without doubt the most single-minded and ambitious of all the British millennium projects. To have the ability to persuade nearly half a million people to visit the project last year while it was still being built is a great achievement in itself."

Costing £86m, the 50-hectare site, the size of 35 football pitches, in St Austell, Cornwall, houses two gigantic biomes - distinct environments each made up of four interconnecting domes - containing tropical and Mediterranean plants, plus 10 hectares of temperate flora planted outdoors. It is "the world's biggest greenhouse", and has taken more than seven years to bring to fruition.

Vital relationship

According to its Web site, the Eden Project's mission is to: "Promote the understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources, leading towards a sustainable future for all."

Dutch-born Smit, a former archaeologist and record producer, moved to the village of Gorran, Cornwall, in 1987. A derelict Edwardian garden nearby caught his eye and he began restoring it. After years of hard work the Lost Gardens of Heligan, near Mevagissey, became Britain's most visited private gardens and Smit moved on to a bigger challenge.

The Eden Project began in earnest in 1996, half funded by the Millennium Commission and half by public bodies such as the European Regional Development Fund, English Partnerships and Cornwall County Council and the private sector. It opened on 17 March 2001, and attracted 7,000 visitors to its official opening.

In 2000, half a million people visited the site, just to watch the building works alone. The Eden Project expects to attract 750,000 visitors a year, a third of whom will be new to Cornwall.

It will generate substantial economic and other benefits for the region and a considerable number of businesses will be assisted in terms of increased turnover and profitability.

As the Eden Project is an all-weather tourist attraction and open all year round, it is expected to attract tourists to Cornwall during the traditionally quiet winter months from October to June.

Judge Laurence Beere summed up the feelings of the judges when he said: "Schemes of the size of the Eden Project are often talked about but rarely does someone have the vision and the drive to succeed on such a grand scale.

"Tim's work will undoubtedly benefit sustainable tourism in the South-west and is a positive example that the UK can be proud of." n