Congratulations to Questacon – The National Science and Technology Centre and the National Folk Festival for their achievement and demonstration of tourism excellence in the Canberra region.

Click here for a full list of winners

View the 2009 Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Awards photo album

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This presentation courtesy of the Channel Vision team

The 2009 Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Awards were launched on Friday 1 May 2009 at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra. The presentation featured speeches by Garry Watson, Chair of Judges, and Andrew Barr MLA, ACT Minister for Tourism and long time supporter of the tourism awards program.

Please ensure you download the 2009 category questions prior to starting your entry as a number of questions have been altered to better suit the requirements of particular categories. Other updates are as follows:

Category 17. Tourism Wineries, Distilleries and Boutique Breweries

This category has expanded to include a wider range of businesses from the beverage industry that provide a tourism experience.

Category 26. Qantas Award for Excellence In Sustainable Tourism

This category will continue to be a part of the awards program in 2009 and Qantas is once again offering a prize of $2,000 to the winner of this category at the 2009 Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Awards. At the national level, Qantas will award a prize of $25,000 to the winner of this category at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in 2010. The value of the prize is to be used for a sustainability project in line with the philosophy of the award, for instance solar panels, a community project or educational initiatives.

NEW Category 28. Education Tourism Program

This category is open to tourism attractions or tourism businesses that deliver an education program/s to schools or groups to enhance the visitor experience and successfully interpret the vision of the attraction or business. An individual program or suite of programs can be entered. The program/s should be fully or partly facilitated by the organisation.

NEW Category 29. Young Tourism Professional

This award recognises an individual, of 26 years of age or under, working in the tourism industry and their contribution to the development of a vibrant and professional tourism industry. This category is also open to students in all schools of study, who are enrolled at an ACT or regional tertiary or technical institution.