Regional entrants

The Canberra Region Tourism Awards encourages entries from tourism businesses in the region surrounding the ACT. Regional tourism businesses deliver an important part of the overall mix of tourism experiences available to visitors, providing additional reasons to travel to Canberra and extend length of stay. The continued support of regional entries is welcome and is essential to ensuring the Awards remains a whole of destination program.

Entrants from regional areas need to confirm that their business meets eligibility to be part of the Canberra Region Tourism Awards program. To verify this, all regional entrants need to read if you meet the new distance criteria or contact the Canberra Region Tourism Awards Manager prior to nominating.

To create an even playing field, the Australian Tourism Industry Council, owners of the Australian Tourism Awards has endorsed the implementation of a clear boundary for the acceptance of NSW businesses within the Canberra Region Tourism Awards program.

The boundary for eligibility for the Canberra Region will be a radius within 72 kilometres from the Canberra GPO (53 Alinga Street). This boundary naturally occurs at the southernmost tip of the ACT border.

This region includes NSW tourism regions traditionally aligned with the Canberra region such as Murrumbateman, Lake George, Bungendore, Gundaroo, Yass, Braidwood amongst others.

Entrants will be deemed as either Canberra Region or NSW based on this demarcation and will therefore only be eligible to enter the awards system for their allocated region. There will be no choice available to entrants as to which awards program they enter.

To ensure this alignment is appropriately recognised, all marketing, labelling and categorisation will be updated to indicate either NSW or Canberra Region (CBR Region rather than ACT) to remove any confusion.

Entrants may seek support from either of the awards programs (Canberra Region or NSW Tourism Awards) as required, however they must enter their designated program as per the defined boundary.

Information and marketing for entering the awards will be shared by both NSW and CBR region. Award managers will guide entrants to contact the correct program for nominations.

A review of impacts of the above decision (support, number of entrants etc.) will occur after an initial pilot period of 2 years for discussion by the National Chair of Judges, and the relevant directors from NSW and Canberra Region.

Regional entrants need to consider the following when nominating their business and preparing their written submission:

  • How the business complements the mix of experiences available in the Canberra Region
  • The extent to which the business contributes to the ongoing development and enhancement of tourism in Canberra Region
  • The level of involvement in industry associations or other relevant bodies with direct links to Canberra
  • How the activities of the business contribute to the promotion of Canberra and the region
  • The level of engagement with VisitCanberra and the Canberra tourism industry
  • Relevance of the business to other Canberra businesses and suppliers

Judges will consider these points when judging you, so ensure you highlight your engagement with VisitCanberra and the Canberra region industry when completing your submission and during your judges site visit.

Regional entries that are not eligible to enter the Canberra Region Tourism Awards can consider entering the NSW Tourism Awards