Queensland Tourism Association (OQTA) is celebrating outstanding success on a national scale after receiving the Silver Award for Destination Marketing at the Qantas Australia Tourism Awards (QATA).

The membership-based organisation responsible for promoting outback Queensland was awarded Silver for the Outback Queensland Travellers’ Guide 2013 at the black tie event held on Friday February 7, at Luna Park, Sydney.

The event was attended by some 900 tourism representatives with OQTA among a group of 11 Queensland tourism businesses chosen from 200 national award finalists throughout Australia.

It was a case of Australian Tourism Awards déjà vu for OQTA, which was awarded Silver for the Destination Marketing category for the second consecutive year.

The success of the 11 Queensland tourism businesses follows the wide-spread industry excitement shared during the Queensland Tourism Awards held in November 2013, hosted by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) – the peak industry body for tourism in Queensland.

QTIC Chief Executive Daniel Gschwind said the Queensland tourism businesses recognised at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards had numerous reasons to bask in the limelight.

“The Qantas Australian Tourism Awards are yet another opportunity for Queensland’s tourism businesses to stand tall, celebrate their achievements and remain positive about the outlook of the industry,” Mr Gschwind said.

“It has been a tough road travelled by some Queensland tourism businesses in the past few years following a series of natural weather disasters and economic challenges,” he said.

“However, it’s now time to continue the positive momentum and work hard to achieve our goal of doubling overnight visitor expenditure to $30 billion by 2020.”

Tourism in Queensland contributes $22 billion to the economy and employs 136,000 Queenslanders, 5.9 per cent of all employment in the state.

Source: http://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au