Gongs Galore for Queenstown at Golden Backpacker Awards QUEENSTOWN won all major gongs at the Golden Backpacker Awards last week, with Shotover Canyon Swing, Nomads Queenstown Backpackers and The World Bar winning in the adventure, accommodation and nightlife sectors. The only other New Zealand operation to pick up an award was Tamaki Maori Village Rotorua for being the best indigenous cultural experience. The awards are Australasia's only dedicated awards programmes for the independent travel sector. Run by TNT Magazine and Thumbrella it is an international campaign that gathers votes from consumers in more than 30 categories. This year a total of 19,539 votes were cast with voting conducted online for the first time. Swing Shotover Canyon Swing won Best Activity in New Zealand for the third time in the competition's four-year history, while The World Bar won Best Bar in New Zealand also for the third time. Nomads Queenstown won Best Backpackers its first major award since opening a year ago. Destination Queenstown consumer marketing manager Lisa Nilsen, who was in Sydney for the Adventure Travel and Backpack Expo, represented Shotover Canyon Swing at the ceremony. Special “What makes these three wins so special is that they're awarded by a market sector we work very hard to attract to Queenstown. Peer recommendation is so important in the modern age and particularly in the independent market sector. These awards offer recommendation and recognition that is highly valuable to Queenstown and to New Zealand and we very much congratulate Shotover Canyon Swing, Nomads Queenstown and The World Bar for their wins.” Tamaki Tours director Doug Tamaki says: “This award recognises the past 20 years of hard work, dedication and commitment we have put in to the backpacker industry, allows us to pay tribute to the loyal suppliers we have in this segment - and is a testament to the continually high-quality cultural encounters we provide for the most important people we know - our customers.” Best car/campervan rental in New Zealand was identified as Jucy Rentals while the best tour/transport operator here is Stray. |
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