For over 30 years the Victorian Tourism Awards have showcased the state’s leaders in tourism excellence. The Awards encourage businesses to meet and exceed industry standards and play an integral role in acknowledging business excellence together with outstanding innovation, industry professionalism and collaboration.

Winners and finalists are announced at an industry night of nights, the annual Gala Ceremony. Around 1,000 industry identities from across the state gather to celebrate, network and share their success with great food, entertainment and the award ceremony.

The Victorian Tourism Awards comprise 28 categories and three individual excellence categories. As a national program, winners of categories 1-25 automatically receive entry as a finalist for the Australian Tourism Awards.

Why enter?

Going through the awards program is similar to going through a business planning process. The Awards encourages entrants to undertake this critical process to investigate key business issues, realign the business objectives, business values, positioning and most importantly, where the business is heading in the future. In addition, there is the bonus of being recognised by industry and consumers for business excellence.

Entering the Victorian Tourism Awards will give your business the opportunity to:

Benchmark your business against peers and competitors
Develop an accurate overview of your business position
Assess and improve your business practices
Identify opportunities for business growth
Receive valuable feedback on your current business practices
Increase brand awareness and leverage marketing opportunities
Gain recognition from industry
Highlight to customers your aspiration and commitment to tourism excellence
Acknowledge the contribution of your team and motivate them to strive for excellence

How to enter?

There are four steps to entering the Victorian Tourism Awards:

Nominate your business online – the fee to enter the 2023 awards is dependent on your businesses level of membership with VTIC or evidence of QTA Accreditation.
Complete a series of pre-assessment modules that may include Business Standards or Accommodation Standards if entering one of the accommodation categories.
Complete a written submission online by answering a series of questions relevant to the category entered.
Receive a judge site visit inspection if required.

Please note:

It is recommended to review the 2023 Rules and Regulations prior to nominating.
The qualifying period for the 2023 Awards – 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. 

This article was originally published by The Victorian Tourism Industry Council