26 February 2018

Questacon wins another gold for best tourist attraction in Australia

| Lachlan Roberts
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Questacon won another Best Tourist Attraction in Australia at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards. Photo: Supplied.

Questacon won another Best Tourist Attraction in Australia at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards. Photo: Supplied.

Questacon has won gold at the 2017 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards for the second year in a row, showcasing the best in customer service, innovation and business excellence.

The National Science and Technology Centre won another Best Tourist Attraction in Australia at the awards ceremony held in Perth last Friday night (23rd February).

Among the 700 tourism industries at the awards, tourist attractions in the Canberra region won big, with ‘Pie Time’ in the Southern Highlands scoring a Silver for their destination marketing campaign, and Hyatt Hotel Canberra bringing home a Bronze for luxury accommodation.

President of the National Capital Attractions Association, Dr Naomi Dale, said she was proud of the hard work of Canberra’s tourism industry.

“We are always extremely competitive on a national level and the awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase what we offer and our contributions to the visitor economy. We had ten amazing local winners represent the Canberra Region,” Dr Dale said.

“I am so proud of the hard work our tourism industry puts into their businesses, offering our visitors the best of the best in the Canberra region.”

The nation’s capital continues to be a strong tourist attraction in Australia, as a record level of international tourists visited Canberra in the past 12 months, injecting $547.4 million into the ACT economy.

Global travel publisher, Lonely Planet, also ranked Canberra third on ‘Best in Travel — Top Cities’ list for 2018, the only Australian city to be ranked in the top 10.

With it’s eight interactive exhibitions, which feature more than 200 hands-on experiences, Questacon beat Calypso Star Charters and the Sealy Lookout to claim top honours.

Australian Tourism Awards Chair Daniel Gschwind said that the calibre of finalists in this year’s awards was exceptional and the operators should be applauded for their dedication to providing quality tourism experiences.

Tonight, we celebrate leading businesses whose hard work, innovation and commitment to quality continue to help drive our industry as a leading contributor to jobs and economic growth across Australia,” Mr Gschwind said.

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Steven Ciobo, said the awards were a great showcase of the skill within the industry.

“I’d like to extend my congratulations to all of this year’s finalists and winners. These prestigious awards provide a wonderful opportunity to shine the spotlight on Australia’s tourism industry and those operators and businesses who make such an important contribution to the record level of growth that our industry is currently enjoying,” Mr Ciobo said.

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