Tourism awards are back for 2021 - What's new?
Changes to submissions
Qualifying period
The qualifying period for this year’s awards will be adjusted to account for the variances in closed businesses across the states over the past 12 months due to natural disasters and COVID-19.
The qualifying period will be from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2021 (except for new tourism businesses).
New businesses that commenced operations between 1 July 2019 – 30 July 2020 can choose to enter either the New Tourism Business category or an alternate category. Those that commenced operations between 1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021 are only eligible to enter the New Tourism Business category.
Category name changes
As a part of a review for 2021, participation in some categories was reviewed and the following changes were made to better reflect the entrants:
Specialised Tourism Services is now called Tourism Retail & Hire Services
Destination Marketing is now called Tourism Marketing & Campaigns
Standard Accommodation is now called 3-3.5 Star Accommodation
Deluxe Accommodation is now called 4-4.5 Deluxe Star Accommodation
Luxury Accommodation is now called 5 Star Luxury Accommodation
Revised question set
Most categories* have a revised question set which focuses on five key areas:
1. COVID-19 Impacts (0 marks)
2. Introduction (20 marks)
3. Business Development (20 marks)
4. Marketing (20 marks)
5. Customer Experience (10 marks)
New questions
The following categories have an updated set of questions that are specific to the individual category:
Major Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
Ecotourism
Cultural Tourism
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Tourism
Tourism Marketing & Campaigns
New Tourism Business
Responses to questions
Businesses can choose whether they want to focus on
· strategies implemented to attract or grow their business, and/or
· strategies implemented as a part of their recovery and resilience to COVID-19.
Questions have been amended to enable a response from businesses which is most relevant to them.
Responsible Tourism question temporarily suspended
While Responsible Tourism is incredibly important, the challenges faced by many businesses during the qualifying period make it difficult for some businesses to respond to this question, through no fault of their own.
Rather than disadvantage businesses, the Responsible Tourism section has been temporarily suspended for 2021.
However business innovation or excellence in social, economic, environmental, and ethical tourism can form part of the response to the Business Development question.
Word count reduced
Because the Responsible Tourism question is not included this year, the word count has also been temporarily reduced to 8,000 words (excluding the category of Excellence in Food Tourism).
Scoring changes
Each submission will be scored on the following elements:
1. Written submission = 70%
2. Online review = 10% (see below)
3. Consumer rating = 20% (excluding some categories; see below)
Online review score
Prior to the Site Verification Visit judges will assess entrants’ online activities including each entrant’s
website
social media channels
search engine optimisation
external listings
A copy of the online review questions will be available in the nominee’s kit.
Scoring of the online review will occur at the State/Territory level only.
Consumer Rating Score
The consumer rating will be derived from the Global Review Index (GRI) provided by ReviewPro which is the average score of all of a business’ online reviews. A minimum of 25 reviews must have been received during the qualifying period across the 175+ online review sites that ReviewPro captures from in order to receive a GRI score. Businesses that do not have a GRI score will receive a score of 0 for the consumer rating score.
A consumer rating will not apply to
Major Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
Ecotourism
Cultural Tourism
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Tourism
Business Event Venues
Tourism Marketing & Campaigns
New Tourism Business
For those categories where there is a mix of products included, then the consumer rating value will be 5%:
Tourism Retail & Hire Services
Excellence in Food Tourism
Entrants will receive a free ReviewPro account from submission until the awards open next year. This will help them respond to online reviews and see where improvements are needed (e.g. if customers regularly comment on facilities or customer service).
Judges’ Choice
A Judges’ Choice award will recognise a finalist that the judges believe showed great resilience in what has been a very challenging time. The Judges’ Choice will be selected from the national finalists from categories 1 – 25.
Some states will also run a state Judges’ Choice award which will recognise a finalist that the judges believe showed great resilience in what has been a difficult time. The winner of the state Judges’ Choice will not progress to the nationals unless they win in their category of entry.
Your State Tourism Awards
You enter the Australian Tourism Awards by winning your category in your state’s tourism awards.
The tourism awards cover 30 categories ranging from attractions, events, tour and transport, accommodation, restaurants, culture, marketing and more.
Some states have additional categories where winners are not eligible to progress to the national awards as the national awards do not include those categories.
Nominations open - 15 March
Nominations close - 21 May
Submissions due - 16 August
Gala Ceremony (Brisbane) - 12 November
SA Tourism Awards
Nominations open - 15 MarchNominations close - 21 June
Draft submissions due - 21 July
Submissions due 12pm for Categories 1-15 - 18 August
Submissions due 5pm for Categories 16-26 - 18 August
Submissions due for Categories 27-28 - 15 September
Gala Dinner - 5 November
WA Tourism Awards
Nominations open - 8 MarchNominations close - 11 May
Submissions due - 27 July
Announcement of finalists - 23 September
Gala Dinner - 13 November
Outback Queensland Tourism Awards
Information on the 2021 awards is not yet available
Information on the 2021 awards is not yet available
Information on the 2021 awards is not yet available
ACT (Canberra Region) Tourism Awards
Nominations open - April
Nominations close - July
Submissions due - September
Gala Ceremony - November
VIC Tourism Awards
Nominations open - 1 MarchNominations close - 4 June
Business & Accommodation Standards due - 11 June
Submissions due - 31 August
Judging and site visits - September to early October
Gala Ceremony - November (TBC)
TAS Tourism Awards
Nominations open - 16 MarchNominations close - 4 June
Submissions due - 1 September
Finalists announced - 6 October
Gala Ceremony - 5 November
NT Tourism Awards
Nominations are openSubmissions due - 9 September
Gala Ceremony - 13 November
Gold winners of most state tourism awards categories are automatically finalists in the Australian Tourism Awards
Qantas Australian Tourism Awards gala - March 2022
Other awards
Winners of the following awards were announced in March 2021:
Rewarding destinations and businesses that cater for mature-aged travellers
Recognising the role of outdoor art in destination appeal.
Information on other awards that are normally held each year such as the Toilet Tourism Awards and the Adventure Tourism Awards have not yet been published for 2021.
Learn more
Read our top 5 awards submission writing tips
Learn the 5 things to do before you start writing your submission
Help with your submission
Tilma Group has ten years of experience with writing, reviewing, judging, winning and mentoring award submissions.
