Major Tourist Attractions

WINNER: National Museum of Australia, ACT

Visitors get a unique chance to explore what it means to be Australian at the National Museum of Australia.

Located on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in a stunning building of vivid colours and unexpected angles, the Museum explores the themes of land, nation and people.

The Museum features five permanent exhibitions using state-of-the-art technology and innovative design, together with our unique collection of objects, to present the stories of Australia’s past.

From hands-on displays, exciting temporary exhibitions, guided tours, special events, waterfront dining, a magnificent shop and more, there’s something for everyone at the National Museum of Australia. www.nma.gov.au

Significant Tourist Attractions

WINNER: Fantasea Cruises - Reefworld, QLD

Fantasea Cruises is the largest day cruise operator in the Whitsunday region, operating cruises throughout the magnificent Whitsunday islands and to the Great Barrier Reef.

Fantasea Cruises prides itself on its quality products and excellence in service. Its fleet of modern, airconditioned, high-speed catamarans provide a smooth and comfortable passage to Fantasea Cruises’ reef platform.

Reefworld offers guests the greatest reef experience available. World-class features include a free kids club, a seated underwater viewing chamber, semi-submersible coral viewing with commentary, submerged entry platforms, a scuba diving ‘moonpool’, and a shaded sundeck revealing boundless views of the Great
Barrier Reef. www.fantasea.com.au

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Questacon - The National Science and Technology Centre, ACT

HIGHLY COMMENDED: The Bibbulmun Track, WA

Major Festival & Events

WINNER: Sydney Royal Easter Show, NSW

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is Australia’s oldest event, but more importantly one of the world’s greatest annual traditions.

The combination of agricultural excellence, spectacular entertainment and retail attractions has made the Show a world-class event, recognised by close to a million visitors each year.

With around 20,000 international visitors, over 500 media representatives, countless international judges and $461.9 million contributed each year to the nation’s economy, the Show continues to penetrate the psyche and represent the culture of all Australians.

By showcasing the best of all things Australian, from our bush heritage to contemporary Australian life, the Show brings together city and country and multicultural groups from all over NSW while also promoting Australia to thousands of international visitors from more than 60 destinations each year. www.eastershow.com.au

Significant Festivals & Events

WINNER: Fun 4 Kids Festival, VIC

Fun4Kids is Australia’s best Children’s Festival. Attracting over 34,000 visitors in 2006, it is key to Warrnambool’s winter tourism strategy.

Fun4Kids celebrates the imagination and creative spirit of children, showcasing eight days of high quality children’s entertainment, interactive exhibits and fantastic workshops.

Within a magical 2.5 acre indoor village, children can play, imagine, participate and create while they experience many aspects of healthy living and the arts.

Held during the first eight days of the Victorian winter school holidays, Fun4Kids provides a ‘feel good’ school holiday, that reinforces Warrnambool’s position as the ‘fun capital of the Great Ocean Road’. www.fun4kids.com.au

Ecotourism

WINNER: Kooljaman at Cape Leveque, WA

Kooljaman at Cape Leveque is proudly owned by the aboriginal communities of One Arm Point and Djarindjin. It is a unique wilderness camp, located 220 kilometres north of Broome on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia.

Visitors to this beautiful remote location can camp in traditional palm frond shelters on the beach, stay in rustic cabins, or enjoy well appointed luxury safari tents with panoramic views of the surrounding ocean.

The amazing landscape, abundant wildlife, stunning beaches, cultural tours, boat charters, swimming, snorkelling and fishing, all guarantee an extraordinary holiday experience. www.kooljaman.com.au

Heritage & Cultural Tourism

WINNER: Discovery EcoTours Australia, NT

Experience Discovery Ecotours Australia - Expert guided tours of Central Australia's, the Top End's and Northern Queensland's natural and cultural heritage. Small group tour specialists.

Discovery Ecotours Australia blends the best of the Northern Territory's and Northern Queensland's natural and cultural environment with a generous educational component and spices the lot with fun.

Tours cover Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (Olgas) and Mt Conner, the Red Centre from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock via the West MacDonnell Ranges, Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park, Kings Canyon and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The Top End's Kakadu National Park, Aboriginal Arnhem Land, Cobourg Peninsula and Tropical North Queensland plus Northern Queensland's Gulf and Savannah country. www.ozeco.com.au

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram, SA

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Tourism

WINNER: Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural and Education Centre, NSW

‘Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural & Education Centre’ is located at Penrith on the outskirts of metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales and opened as a meeting place for sharing cultures in November 1999.

‘Muru Mittigar’ meaning ‘Pathway of Friends’ operates 6 days per week (Sunday by appointment) and offers visitors an authentic and contemporary Aboriginal experience.

The business operates a comprehensive range of activities including a Cultural Centre, Café, Guided Tours (tourism and educational), Retail Art Gallery, Land Rehabilitation programs, Environmental Monitoring services, Native Plant Nursery, Employment and Training programs and a Retail Shop.

In 2005/2006, ‘Muru Mittigar’ was proud to welcome 4162 guests to ‘our place’. www.discoveryecotours.com.au

General Tourism Services

WINNER: two eight two eight, NSW

two eight two eight is a vibrant, exciting and innovative venture in Gulargambone (population 500) in the state’s central west.

During the last few years when we were struggling to cope with the drought and a downturn in the rural economy, the community renovated a dilapidated building in the main street and transformed it into an award-winning cafe, art gallery and gift shop (selling locally handmade craft & produce), function centre with a quality catering service. Great coffee, delicious food, movie nights, secondhand books and ‘Dinners under the Stars’ all enhance the visitor experience.

Named after our postcode two eight two eight is run entirely by volunteers and all profits are invested back into the community.
web.mac.com/gulargambone2828

Meetings & Business Tourism

WINNER: Geelong Otway Tourism, VIC

Geelong Otway Tourism has created and refined a recipe for bringing together key stakeholders in the region who can deliver services to the Business & Meetings market, whilst also stimulating a high level of demand for those services.

With the support of our industry partners, we attracted 19,000 conference delegates, with an average growth in economic benefits to the region of 180% per annum, results far exceeding our expectations.

Key strategies to achieve this have included the provision of hands-on support to conference organisers, the leveraging of financial resources from the local tourism industry and the implementation of high-impact destination marketing programs.
www.geelongotway.org

Tourism Retailing

WINNER: Australia Zoo - Australia Zoo Retail, QLD

Crikey! Australia Zoo, Home of The Crocodile Hunter is your ultimate wildlife adventure! At 30 hectares in size and home to over 1000 animals, there is always another exciting animal encounter just around the corner.

There are 14 incredible wildlife shows daily! Get your adrenalin pumping as you watch crocodiles launch a strike from the water’s edge in our brand new 5000 seat Crocoseum, have your photo taken with a giant python or make friends with our feathery, scaly or furry wandering wildlife.

Australia zoo is much more than a wildlife park – it’s an adventure of a lifetime with opportunities to get hands-on with all kinds of wildlife! - Wooo-hoo! There is so much to see and do at Australia Zoo, where Crocs RULE! www.australiazoo.com.au

Major Tour & Transport Operators

WINNER: Quicksilver Group of Companies - Quicksilver Group, QLD

The Quicksilver Group is Australia’s leading Great Barrier Reef cruise operator and a pioneer of environmentally sustainable tourism.

With the Cairns and Port Douglas based operations and spectacular Outer Great Barrier Reef and island destinations, the Group offers the most expansive range of reef experiences to visitors to Tropical North Queensland.

The company’s landmark reef cruises comprise Quicksilver to Agincourt Reef, Wavedancer to Low Isles, Great Adventures’ reef and Green Island cruises, Silver Series’ adventure dive and snorkelling, Pro Dive Cairns liveaboard trips and dive courses, plus the internationally known five star Green Island Resort.
www.quicksilvergroup.com.au

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Skywest Airlines, WA

Significant Tour & Transport Operators

WINNER: Tri State Safaris, NSW

“Remember when a holiday was a real adventure?” that’s the philosophy of Broken Hill’s Tri State Safaris.

Owners Michael & Joanne McCulkin love the outback region and want to share its beauty with everyone.

We specialise in personalised, small group 4wd tours to many outback destinations.

Operating now for 14 years, Tri State Safaris have gained an enviable reputation for their knowledge and expertise in the outback. Our passion for sharing it with others is what makes our tours a real experience.

Join Tri State Safaris on an outback tour and take home memories that will last a lifetime. www.tristate.com.au

Adventure Tourism

WINNER: North Star Cruises, WA

North Star Cruises offers world class adventure tourism cruises for the most discerning international adventurer.

The $14 million adventure cruise ship, the True North, is more akin to a luxury floating hotel and cruises with 36 passengers and 20 attentive crew through some of the most spectacular wilderness sites in the world, including: the rugged and ancient Kimberley Coast; the pristine west coast to Ningaloo Reef, the coral atolls of the Rowley Shoals marine park, Australia’s top end and untamed Papua New Guinea.

Experience your wilderness surrounds whenever and however you choose, as effortlessly or actively as you desire - Step onto the deck to shower under spectacular water falls; fish for monster jewfish and dive for crayfish; go for a heli-picnic in an ancient gorge; explore remote jungles and river systems guarded by
crocodiles and be mesmorised by the dances of the Goroka Highland mudmen. www.northstarcruises.com.au

Destination Promotion

WINNER: Tourism Noosa, QLD

Tourism Noosa is a local tourism authority that works in partnership with the tourism industry with the primary aim of guiding strategic marketing and tourism development of the Noosa region.

With over 400 members, Tourism Noosa’s mission is as leading industry voice for tourism in Noosa. It has a role in facilitating improved industry professionalism, implementing integrated marketing initiatives based on research and managing the delivery of high quality visitor information and service.

To raise the profile of the Noosa region domestically and internationally, Tourism Noosa positions the area as a stylish coastal resort destination that combines the appeal of pristine beaches and a temperate yearround climate with world class dining, sophisticated shopping and a wide range of nature-based and adventure activities.

Supported by a strong commitment to protecting the natural environment that is so much a part of the region’s tourism appeal, Noosa maintains a village feel that is characterised by low-level infrastructure development and no traffic lights or parking metres.
www.tourismnoosa.com.au

Tourism Product Marketing

WINNER: Pure Tasmania Launch, TAS

“It’s all about the experience - Pure Tasmania” In November 2005, the Federal Group launched a new strategy to attract the high-value experience-driven traveller to the destinations of Strahan, Cradle Mountain and Freycinet, through the brand Pure Tasmania.

The Pure Tasmania captures the best Tasmania has to offer, from lodges in stunning coastal settings, to villages at the edge of World Heritage wilderness, and chateaus from which you can walk spectacular glacial carved mountains.

Pure Tasmania provides unforgettable experiences in the state’s core tourism values of nature, food and wine, and heritage.

A new website www.puretasmania.com.au provides users with an information-rich environment supported by real time bookings for accommodation and experiences across Tasmania.

Media

WINNER: Outback Queensland Tourism Authority - Queensland's Outback Travellers' Guide, QLD

The Queensland’s Outback Travellers’ Guide is the must-have travellers’ companion for anyone planning a holiday in Queensland’s Outback. This full-colour publication is a comprehensive guide to the people, places and wide open spaces of Queensland’s Outback!

Key features of the brochure that help visitors plan their holidays include information on the towns throughout Queensland’s Outback; a pull-out road map; a national parks guide; an events calendar; a quick-reference travel directory and general information on making the most of your outback adventure.

With all of this presented in a user-friendly and visually-appealing format; it’s no wonder the Queensland’s Outback Travellers’ Guide continues to be so popular with travellers! www.outbackqld.com.au

Tourism Education & Training

WINNER: Canberra Institute of Technology - Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, ACT

The Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management (FTHM) at Canberra Institute of Technology is one of Australia’s leading and most innovative providers of tourism education and training.

It is the ACT’s largest provider of tourism education, and the region’s only provider of apprenticeship to diploma qualifications in the culinary, food and beverage, hospitality management and tourism management fields.

Led by a dynamic and youthful Dean, FTHM is distinguished by five key strengths:

1. Passionate and highly experienced staff
2. An extensive range of training programs
3. Continuous improvement and innovation
4. Continuously upgraded training facilities
5. A strong sense of community and social responsibility

www.cit.act.edu.au

Tourism Restaurants & Catering Services

WINNERS: Dracula's Cabaret Restaurant, VIC

Dracula’s is an unforgettable evening of award winning dining, comedy, entertainment and thrills! For over two decades Dracula’s has thrilled audiences with its unique brand of cabaret entertainment.

Dracula’s was the first to delve into the horror theme and remains Australia’s most popular and longest running Dinner Theatre.

A lavish, dark journey into the world of the modern Vampire. An eclectic three-course dinner, a Ghost Train ride, two hour production show, pre show entertainment, eccentric cocktail lounge and souvenirs from the ‘Little Shop Of Horror’.

During the past year, more than 40 thousand ‘victims’ passed through Dracula’s doors.

This year Dracula’s celebrates 26 years of entertaining Melbourne.
www.draculas.com.au

Tourism Wineries

WINNERS: Bimbadgen Estate Wines, NSW

Bimbadgen Estate, derived from a local indigenous dialect meaning “a place of good view”, is one of the Hunter Valleys most picturesque wineries.

The winery offers the full wine tourism experience in the one location, and comprises 35 year-old vineyards, an open plan winemaking facility, contemporary cellar door, award winning restaurant, Esca, as well as a four bedroom executive homestead with a two-bedroom cottage nearby.

Bimbadgen Estate also hosts a number of esteemed musical events throughout the year, as part of “A Day on the Green” and “Bimbadgen Blues” including such international artists as Chris Isaak, Joe Cocker & Jackson Browne as well as some of Australia’s best names. www.bimbadgen.com.au

Tourist & Caravan Parks

WINNERS: Adelaide Shores Caravan Resort, SA

Adelaide Shores Caravan Resort is a leader in the provision of tourist park accommodation for South Australian, interstate and international holidaymakers visiting Adelaide.

The 16-hectare resort is South Australia’s largest provider of tourist park accommodation with a wide range of accommodation including camping and caravan sites, a bunkhouse, cabins and on-site vans.

Located behind sand dunes at West Beach, the resort provides a broad range of guest facilities and recreational activities and is widely renowned for its quality product and superior customer service that combine to make it one of the nation’s favourite coastal destinations. www.adelaideshores.com.au

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Big4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort, QLD

Backpacker Accommodation

WINNER: Greenhouse Backpacker (The Friendly Group), VIC

The Greenhouse Backpacker is a multi award winning facility in the heart of Melbourne’s Flinders Lane.

Surrounded by shops, cafes, trendy lane ways, galleries and attractions guests are always entertained.

Priding itself on world class facilities and attention to customer service The Greenhouse offers guests The Melbourne Experience with activities, a travel agent and bar on site.

Lonely Planet describes the greenhouse as “bright, friendly and an extremely well run operation with excellent facilities.

Brilliantly located right in the thick of things...”
www.friendlygroup.com.au/greenhouse_home.asp

Hosted Accommodation

WINNER: Woodlands Rainforest Bungalows, VIC

Hidden in the spectacular rainforest of the Black Spur in the mountains above Victoria’s famous Yarra Valley is one of Australia’s leading boutique accommodation retreats and the ultimate secret hideaway for couples.

Secluded in 40 acres of temperate rainforest, where native flora and fauna abound, four luxury bungalows blend perfectly with the natural environment.

Each bungalow’s huge sunken spa is set in a heated floor in front of a glass wall that opens out onto a wallpaper of living forest.

Woodlands offers a rare combination of genuine privacy, pure indulgent luxury in a truly nature based experience.
www.woodlandscottages.com.au

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Seppeltsfield Vineyard Cottage, SA

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Crystal Creek Meadows, NSW

Unique Accommodation

WINNER: The Henry Jones Art Hotel, TAS

The Henry Jones Art Hotel on Hobart’s waterfront is the centerpiece of the multi award winning IXL jam factory redevelopment. Opening to global acclaim in 2004, The Henry Jones is a boutique, design hotel, incorporating 50 first class suites, Henry’s Harbourside restaurant, IXL Long Bar, Jones & Co function room and IXL Atrium.

The vision was to create Australia’s first art hotel; stimulate a new arts precinct; revive the Henry Jones legend; and create a world class tourism experience reflecting the destination’s core values.

Design innovation, the highest quality fit-out, an inspiring commitment to emerging Tasmanian artists, a contemporary service ethos, and stunning waterfront location are The Henry Jones hallmark. www.thehenryjones.com

Standard Accommodation

WINNER: Miami Hotel Melbourne, VIC

The award winning, family owned Miami Hotel Melbourne offers you a level of warmth and personalised service not expected from a budget hotel, where the provision of a hotel room is supported by a
commitment to ensuring that accommodation is only part of a complete travel experience.

Located on Melbourne's northern CBD fringe, the Miami Hotel is the perfect base for travellers seeking affordable accommodation options.

Only a short tram ride from the city centre, most of Melbourne’s sightseeing and tourist attractions are within easy reach. Southern Cross Station, Telstra Dome and Queen Victoria Markets are a short walk away. www.themiami.com.au

Deluxe Accommodation

WINNER: Seashells Resort Broome, WA

Just 300 metres from the sparkling waters of Broome’s famous Cable Beach – Seashells Resort Broome provides 4 ½ star, affordable, deluxe accommodation featuring a choice of spacious and fully self contained one-bedroom suites, two-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom bungalows.

Amongst the lush tropical gardens of the resort, guests can also enjoy a large heated freeform island pool, spa and outdoor barbeque areas to cook the day’s catch.

Seashells Resort Broome and its welcoming local staff make guests feel at home and equip the traveller to be as relaxed or as adventurous as they desire, maximising their enjoyment of the historic pearling town of Broome and Western Australia’s spectacular Kimberley. www.seashells.com.au

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Outrigger on the Beach at Salt, NSW

Luxury Accommodation

WINNER: The Westin Melbourne, VIC

With the most commanding of locations in the heart of the CBD on the doorstep of the best theatres, galleries and boutiques, The Westin has created a reputation as representing quintessential Melbourne - a chic combination of upscale accommodation, contemporary facilities and fresh service.

The hotel boasts some of the city’s largest guest-rooms, a stunning lobby overlooking Swanston Street, stylish interior design and art collection plus chic bars, restaurant and an exclusive guest only Wellness Centre.

No wonder The Westin Melbourne was awarded Australia’s “Best Overall Hotel” by The Australian Hotels Association and noted by Conde Nast Traveller in their Gold List of the world’s top luxury hotels. www.westin.com.au

New Tourism Development

WINNER: Australian Garden - Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, VIC

The Australian Garden is a place where visitors can immerse themselves in Australian flora, landscapes, art and architecture. This amazing new garden features a gallery of exhibition gardens, sculpture and displays – all highlighting the beauty and diversity of our Australian landscape. The Australian Garden features approximately 100,000 plants, including 1000 trees, in 15 different landscape displays and exhibition gardens.

Visitors can enjoy learn about how to use Australian plants at home, by talking to one of our Volunteer Master Gardeners, or by joining a tour with one of our knowledgeable guides. www.rbg.vic.gov.au

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Seashells Resort Mandurah, WA