Queenstown Resort College was presented with the Tourism 2025 Enabler Award.
The award was open to central or local government agencies, research organisations, universities or sector organisations enabling the tourism industry to achieve the Tourism 2025 $41billion aspirational goal.
Enabler initiatives could include things which removed barriers to travel, improved visitor experiences, provided new industry insight, facilities or services.
The criteria said the initiative should not be for commercial gain and might be ongoing.
Meanwhile, Real Journeys was named the Peoples’ Choice Award winner.
Introduced in 2016, the award gave New Zealanders the chance to vote for their favourite tourism experiences from the business award finalists.
It is the second national award in as many weeks for Real Journeys, named the Diversity Awards New Zealand Supreme Award winner in Auckland on August 24.
Tourism West Coast won the Industry Alignment Award, which recognised organisations, including businesses, regional tourism organisations, central and local government, which had aligned or partnered to successfully maximise their tourism industry impact and results.
The Supreme Tourism Award was presented to Auckland’s Haka Tourism Group, while the most prestigious individual accolade — the Sir Jack Newman Award — was presented posthumously to Earl Hagaman, co-founder of the Scenic Circle Hotels in the 1980s, rebranded as the Scenic Hotel Group in 2009.
TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said this year’s awards were "extremely competitive", a reflection of a thriving industry contributing almost $35billion a year to the economy and supporting communities nationally.
The awards are owned and organised by Tourism Industry Aotearoa in conjunction with Air New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
