Accolades and Awards

See our specialist travel media website for more Awards and Accolades

2010

• Conde Nast Traveller (US) 2010 Gold List – Henry Jones Art Hotel. Named the Top Hotel (out of six hotels) in Australia
• Australian Traveller, 100 Greatest Australian Gourmet Experiences Top Gourmet Experience – The Agrarian Kitchen

2009

• The combined readership of all seven international editions of Travel + Leisure magazine has named Tasmania the number one island in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, in its 2009 World’s Best Awards. The prestigious accolade from the world’s highest circulating travel title confirms Tasmania is a world-class visitor destination, ranking it ahead of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef islands and Tahiti’s Moorea.
• Qantas Australian Tourism Awards 2009 - Ecotourism Award – Bruny Island Cruises
• Qantas Australian Tourism Awards 2009 - Tourism Marketing Award – Pure Tasmania
• Qantas Australian Tourism Awards 2009 - Deluxe Accommodation Award – Avalon Coastal Retreat
• The Australian Travel and Tourism Awards 2009 - Best Eco-Wilderness Experience – Maria Island Walk
• The Australian Travel and Tourism Awards 2009 - Best Heritage Tourism – Port Arthur

2008

• Leading North American magazine Travel + Leisure, in its World’s Best Awards for 2008, has named Tasmania number one Island in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. The magazine put Tasmania ahead of Bora Bora, the Great Barrier Reef, Tahiti’s Moorea, and the Fiji Islands. Tasmania also featured in the list of World’s Best Islands, impressively entering the top ten list this year at number five.
• Hobart polled in number five position in Travel + Leisure Magazine's World’s Best Awards for 2008, appearing on the list of top cities in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.

2007

• Tourism Tasmania was honoured by the Australian Federation of Travel Agents with the National Travel Industry Award for Best Tourist Office (National), which it won over Tourism Victoria, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Northern Territory and the South Australian Tourism Commission. Tasmania's Temptations Holidays was also nominated in the Best Wholesaler - Australian Product category.
• The top-selling Japanese edition of Elle magazine devoted a double-page spread to Tasmania in its “110 World Spa Guide”.
• The Islington Hotel was named Australia’s Best Boutique Hotel and the Maria Island Walk was awarded the Nation’s Best Eco-Tourism Experience by a panel of knowledgeable writers, editors, authors and television presenters in the inaugural Australian Gourmet Traveller 2007 Travel Awards. 

2006

• Tasmania 's Temptations Holidays won the esteemed Harvey World Travel Brochure of the Year award – its eighth win in the last 10 years.
• TTF Australia - the country's peak industry group for the tourism, transport and infrastructure sectors – recognised Tourism Tasmania 's innovative partnership with cartoon giant Warner Bros. Tourism Tasmania won the Excellence in Partnership category, rewarding organisations for innovation in partnerships as part of the Tourism and Transport Forum of Australia's Corporate Leadership Awards.
• Pear Ridge Restaurant won the Best Family Establishment Restaurant, in the National Restaurant and Caterers Awards.
• Tasmanian operated World Expeditions was listed as one of the world's 50 Tours of a Lifetime in the top-selling North American magazine National Geographic Traveler.
• Tourism Tasmania 's North American travel agent training program was voted the Best Australian Program for the fifth consecutive year by North American travel agents.
• National Geographic Traveler magazine rated the four-day Maria Island Walk the next great island walk in its 2006 list of The 30 Next Great Places To Visit. The walk also topped a recent list on the News Ltd website as one of the most beautiful islands in Australia
• The drive from Hobart to Strahan was listed as one of Australia 's iconic drives by Australian Traveller magazine.
• Tourism Tasmania was named Best Tourist Office - National at the 2006 National Travel Industry Awards.
• Tasmania was named No.1 Island in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in leading Americanican travel magazine Travel + Leisure's 2006 World's Best Awards. Tasmania took out the regional title ahead of the Great Barrier Reef islands and Bora Bora.
• Staff of Frommer’s travel guides named Tasmania’s Wineglass Bay one of their favourite beaches in the world. Wineglass Bay was the only Australian beach among the nine beaches named by Frommer’s.
• Tasmania’s Avalon Coastal Retreat at Great Oyster Bay has been listed in Travel + Leisure (US) 2006 list of the World’s Next Great Beach Resorts. According to Travel + Leisure, ‘The east coast of Tasmania has been a well-kept Aussie secret for some time – and for good reason.

2005

• Hobart’s Henry Jones Art Hotel won the Australian Tourism Award for New Tourism Development, 2005. The hotel has won a number of major awards since opening in 2004, including the Australian Hotel Associations Award for Excellence – Best Overall Hotel in Australia, 2005. In the same year Condé Nast Traveler named the Henry Jones Art Hotel as one of the best new hotels in the world.
• Tourism Tasmania’s travel wholesale arm, Tasmania’s Temptations Holidays, was named Best Wholesaler - National at the National Travel Industry Awards for Excellence 2005. The award, presented by the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA), recognises excellence in staff development and training, sales and marketing, and customer service.
• Tasmania’s Bay of Fires was named the second most beautiful beach in the world by leading travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller - United Kingdom, June 2005 Issue. Listed only behind Anse Du Grand Colombier in St Barts (French West Indies), the Bay of Fires trumped beaches in Greece, Mexico, Thailand and Brazil in the Top 12 List.

2004

• Tasmania was named Best Tourist Office – National at the National Travel Industry Awards presented by the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) in Sydney during August 2004. These awards recognise excellence in staff development and training, sales and marketing, and customer service.
• Tasmania was ranked third in the world by an independent panel of more than 200 specialists in sustainable tourism and destination quality, surveyed by National Geographic Traveler magazine in conjunction with Leeds Metropolitan University in England.
• Tasmania was named as one of four hot spots for travel in 2004 by the Association of British Travel Agents, alongside New Zealand, Croatia and Bulgaria. ABTA is Britain’s leading travel trade association, representing more than 90 per cent of the UK travel industry.
• One of Tourism Tasmania’s primary advertising campaigns was recognised with two prestigious national awards for advertising effectiveness in 2003. The Rejuvenating Journey campaign, which ran in New South Wales from October 2001 to September 2002, was recognised with the award for Best Return on Investment, and a Silver Award for Advertising Effectiveness at the AFA Effectiveness Awards.
• The AFA awards followed on from our National Travel Industry Association award the previous month, with Tasmania's Temptations being named Best Wholesaler, National, alongside Qantas Holidays.

2003

• Tourism Tasmania scooped two coveted gold awards from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for Tourism Tasmania’s international marketing campaign, and its travel media website.

2002

• Tourism Tasmania was voted the number one tourism office servicing Australia at the 10th annual National Travel Industry Awards for excellence and achievement in the Australian travel industry. Travel consultants and agency managers from around Australia voted Tourism Tasmania the Tourist Office of the Year in the NTIA Awards.
• Readers of North America’s top-selling holiday magazine Travel + Leisure voted Tasmania the best island in Australia, New Zealand the South Pacific – a gong that ultimately ranked Tasmania as the second most popular island destination in the world.

2000-01

• Readers of Conde Nast Traveler Magazine have voted Tasmania the world's friendliest island in the magazine's annual Readers' Choice Awards of 2001. This is the third year running that the State has received a significant accolade from the prestigious North American travel magazine.
• Tasmania was described as one of the major global hot spots of 2001 by a major travel magazine. Tasmania ranked third in the top 11 future travel destinations as part of Travel and Leisure's list of 100 Fabulous Places (and things) for 2001.
• Tasmania was voted the best temperate island by the world's largest travel magazine for the second year running. United States readers of Conde Nast Traveler* ranked Tasmania and tropical island Maui the world's best holiday islands as part of the Readers Choice Awards.
• A Tasmanian adventure holiday has been included in an international list of 100 great trips for the 21st century. North America's top-selling holiday magazine, Travel and Leisure, in their January 2000 edition, nominated Asia Transpacific Journeys' 13-day Discover Tasmania tour in their Adventure (safaris and treks) section.
• Hobart was included in a list of the 10 most photogenic cities in the world during 2000.
• Tasmania has been ranked second in a list of the world's 10 best-value islands for the second consecutive year. Readers of North America's top-selling holiday magazine, Travel and Leisure have again placed Tasmania behind only the Great Barrier Reef and ahead of islands such as Bali, Phuket, Sicily, Maui and Crete, as a value-for-money destination.
• Tasmania has been voted the best temperate island by the world's largest travel magazine. United States subscribers of Conde Nast Traveler ranked Tasmania and tropical island Maui the world's best holiday islands as part of the Reader Choice Awards.
• One of North America's biggest-selling newspapers, The Chicago Tribune, has named Strahan on Tasmania's West Coast as the Best Little Town in the World.
• Wineglass Bay on Tasmania's East Coast has been ranked among the world's top beaches. The spectacular coastal strip fringing Freycinet National Park, was one of five Australian beaches to make the top 50 list compiled by the daily British broadsheet, The Independent.
• The prestigious magazine Outside rated Wineglass Bay in the world's top 10 beaches.

For further information contact Tourism Tasmania's Communications Unit on (03) 6230 8244
email mediainfo@tourism.tas.gov.au