Brand Tasmania Newsletter, March, 2010, Issue 103

The annual Australian Tourism Awards turned into a Tasmanian celebration in February, with the State recognised as having the country’s best ecotourism experience; its finest deluxe accommodation; and best tourism marketing brand. Bruny Island Cruises took out the ecotourism category, Avalon Coastal Retreat, on the east coast, topped the deluxe accommodation category, while Pure Tasmania won the marketing award.

The 2010 awards were held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart on 26 February.

The Chief Executive of the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania, Daniel Hanna, said success in three of 27 categories was outstanding. “This is the best result ever by the Tasmanian tourism industry, and highlights the national significance of our best tourism products,” he said. “It is especially pleasing that the categories that Tasmania has excelled in reflect the Tasmanian brand. To be recognised as having the best marketing campaign, best ecotourism experience and best deluxe accommodation demonstrates that Tasmania is a destination that punches above its weight in niche markets and high-end tourism experiences.”

Bruny Island Cruises, which runs spectacular coastal cruises from Adventure Bay and also from Port Arthur and Pirate’s Bay to Tasman Island, has been a national ecotourism pace-setter for years. It has won many previous awards and was recently included in Travel and Leisure magazine’s Greatest 100 Trips in the World. The company established the Tasmanian Coast Conservation Fund and also contributes generously to the Parks and Wildlife Service.

Avalon Coastal Retreat is a locally designed accommodation business overlooking Great Oyster Bay south of Swansea. Known as the “glass house” it was built to make guests feel pampered yet totally immersed in the surrounding natural world. “For a Tasmanian accommodation business to … be recognised as the best deluxe accommodation in the country is a huge honour and a testament to the extremely high standards our industry is reaching,” the Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Tasmania, Felicia Mariani, said.

The Federal Group’s Pure Tasmania earned its award for marketing packages highlighting such destinations as Cradle Mountain, Strahan and the Freycinet Peninsula. Pure Tasmania also won this award in 2005, the year the brand was launched. It collected an Australian Marketing Institute best new brand award in 2006. “When we launched the Pure Tasmania brand in 2005, we knew we had something special to offer. Brand recognition and what it represented was very strong,” Pure Tasmania’s Director of Tourism, Bernard Dwyer, told The Mercury.

The award successes follow a strong year for Tasmanian tourism. The State welcomed a million visitors in a single year for the first time in 2009.