A crowd of around 150 celebrated the 2nd annual The Newcastle Tourism Industry Group awards night on Monday at Foghorn Brewery in the city.
The Newcastle Hospitality & Tourism Awards are designed to honour outstanding contributions across the visitor economy, including hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and event organisers.
The winners were:
Industry Support Partner of the Year: Out of the Square Media.
The other finalists were Aerologistics and Grainfed Brewery.
Inclusive Tourism & Hospitality Operator of the Year: Oakvale Wildlife Park.
The other finalists in the category were Quest Apartments Newcastle and Newcastle West, and Earp Distilleries.
Employer of the Year: Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club.
Other finalists in the category were Quest Apartments Newcastle and Newcastle West, Oakvale Wildlife Farm.
Employee of the Year Award: Tamara Young from the University of Newcastle.
Other finalists in the category were Laura McGrath of the City of Newcastle, and Mia Shorter of Quest Apartments.
The Newcastle Tourism Industry Group chair Dominic May, who operates CoastXP tourism boat tours, addressed the crowd with brief comments early in the night.
We've gained some impressive momentum in recent years," he said of NTIG. "Our membership has doubled in the last three years.
"We've worked tirelessly to provide a unified voice for the visitor economy, and drive value for our members."
He pointed to the group's 2024 strategy that emphasises industry education and networking, event activation, industry awards program as well as inclusiveness.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes also spoke briefly about the visitor economy and the council's efforts to boost it to pre-COVID figures.
The 2023 winners were:
The Industry Support Partner of the Year - Gus and Louise Maher's Hunter Valley Events company.
The Employer of the Year - Reflections Holiday Parks.
The Employee of the Year - Eduardo Molina of Flotilla restaurant.
