Aquascene Magnetic Island, Townsville Enterprise celebrated at Queensland Tourism Awards
Two Townsville organisations are bringing home a total of three accolades at the Queensland Tourism Awards. See what made them stand out.
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Two Townsville organisations have taken home wins at the Queensland Tourism Awards and Townsville, with three awards brought back to NQ in total.
Aquascene Magnetic Island won the silver for Adventure Tourism and bronze for Excellence in Accessible Tourism at the awards, which are run by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council. Aquascene offer wheelchair-friendly boat tours of Maggie, taking visitors to secluded bays and beaches fringing Maggie’s Reef.
Townsville Enterprise’s campaign ‘Townsville North Queensland – Up for Unexpected’ received a highly commended for the Tourism Marketing and Campaigns award due to its success in bringing tourists to Townsville.
Destination awareness of the Townsville region was up 166 per cent since the campaign launch, according to the award hosts, with the biggest result showing that 70 per cent of people who saw the campaign took action towards booking a holiday in the region.
On the back of this campaign, Townsville also experienced a 28.4 per cent growth to $1.1bn in overnight visitor expenditure, according to the Queensland Tourism Industry Council — a stunning 35 per cent increase on 2019.
Brett Fraser, chief executive of the council, said he was thrilled to see the diverse Townsville region recognised.
“It’s wonderful to see local operators awarded for their contribution to this vital industry,” Mr Fraser said.
“The tourism industry is so important to Townsville’s economy, so I am glad to see more and more people are choosing to visit North Queensland when planning their next adventure.
“The ‘Up for Unexpected’ campaign has been one of the region’s most successful tourism campaigns, showing the true beauty and tourism opportunity for holiday-makers wanting to plan their next trip up North.
“This is only the beginning for Townsville’s tourism growth, and I look forward to watching the region expanding on this success and seeing what more the region can offer to visitors.”
The Queensland Tourism Awards took place on Friday night in Cairns.
There were 31 award categories ranging from attractions, events, tour and transport operators, accommodation, restaurants, culture and marketing. Across the 31 categories, 78 operators were awarded including 31 Gold, 26 Silver and 20 Bronze.
Queensland ended the 2022/23 financial year with an overnight visitor expenditure of $4.3bn in international tourism, according to the award hosts, outperforming the national average by two per cent.
Originally published as Aquascene Magnetic Island, Townsville Enterprise celebrated at Queensland Tourism Awards
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