Australian tourism operators have celebrated their achievements at the industry’s night of nights— the 2007 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards (QATAs), held on Friday 29 February at the National Convention Centre in Canberra.

Close to 1000 industry leaders attended the gala spectacular, with a crowd including state and territory tourism ministers and Federal Minister for Tourism Martin Ferguson.

The awards are organised annually by the National Tourism Alliance (NTA) on behalf of the Australian tourism industry .

“The evening was the high point in an excellent year in Australian tourism,” said NTA chairman Col Hughes. “Each award winner has shown outstanding achievement and represents the best of what our fantastic industry has to offer.”

The night was filled with entertainment, which was headed by MCs Andrew Daddo from Channel Seven’s The Great Outdoors and Sally Obermeder from Channel Seven’s Sydney Weekender. Special entertainment included Australian music legend Jimmy Little performing the National Anthem and I Still Call Australia Home together with the Qantas Choir and the cast from the hit Monty Python musical Spamalot! performing a piece from the show.

Qantas, along with other sponsors, Tourism Australia , Australian Capital Tourism, Prime, the National Convention Centre, AAA Tourism, Crowne Plaza Canberra, KPMG, Hyatt Canberra, Datatrax Tourism Touchscreens, Zoo, Canberra District Wine Industry Association and Lion Nathan, have generously supported the 2007 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

WINNERS
• For a list of QATA 2007 winners click here
• For winners photos click here

Finalists
For a list of QATA 2007 finalists click here