South West wins big at 2024 Tourism Awards

Tourism and events operators in the region have collected a swag of gold medals at the 2024 Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards Gala last week.

The City of Busselton featured heavily in the list of the State’s best tourism offerings, with Busselton Jetty awarded the gold medal for Ecotourism, and another for Excellence in Accessible Tourism.

Jetty CEO Lisa Shreeve said the wins were testament to the “incredible work that Jetty staff and volunteers do every day”.

“We always strive for continuous improvement for new guests and repeat visitors and have implemented many new products and services to improve customer experience such as our Underwater Sculpture Park, Marine Discovery Centre, Virtual Incursions worldwide schools program, hearing loops, AUSLAN and Autism aware programs to improve accessibility and inclusiveness, and our efforts to be carbon neutral in 2025,” she said. “It was great to have our Jetty family at the Awards including volunteers, board, our patron Professor Lyn Beazley and staff from across the business able to attend and celebrate the win.”

The Pullman Bunker Bay team were on hand to collect gold in the 5 Star Accommodation and Business Event Venues categories, while Broadwater Resort Busselton won the 3-3.5 Star Accommodation award and Mandalay Holiday Resort brought home gold for Caravan & Holiday Parks. Pullman Bunker Bay was also inducted into the Hall of Fame, having won gold in the Business Event Venues category for three consecutive years.

Harvest Tours received gold for Excellence in Food Tourism, before taking out the evening’s major award, the Sir David Brand Award for Tourism.

Margaret River Region Open Studios was recognised as the State’s best in Festival and Events. Event Chair Jim Davies said it was gratifying to win gold again, having also won in 2022.

“There are many people involved in making Margaret River Region Open Studios possible,” he said. “But the real heroes of this event are our artists who open their studios to visitors for two weeks.

“This award goes to prove art is well and truly alive in the South West, and is a major drawcard for visitors.”

Eco-tourism guru Sean Blocksidge was awarded the gold medal for Tour and Transport Operators, his Margaret River Discovery Co recognised for its unique local tours ‘for people who don’t do tours’.

Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association chief executive Sharna Kearney praised the group’s member businesses which collected a total of 13 medals on the night.

“These outstanding results indicate the exceptional calibre of experiences offered by tourism businesses in this region,” Ms Kearney said.