Australian town picks up hat-trick of awards

Greater Port Macquarie in New South Wales (NSW), Australia has won three honours at the Countrylink Regional Tourism Awards 2008.

The town took the award in the deluxe accommodation category for the Observatory, as well as the heritage and cultural tourism accolade for its Timbertown attraction and a marketing award for Greater Port Macquarie Tourism.

Officials claimed that the town had to beat off competition from a number of businesses on the mid-north coast between Port Stephens and Coffs Coast to pick up the awards.

The winners will now compete in the Tourism NSW awards in November.

Linda Hall, acting tourism manager at Greater Port Macquarie Tourism, said: "These industry awards provide the only opportunity for local tourism operators to benchmark against others in the region.

"We are delighted to be recognised as offering visitors the best in class for these categories, and it's fantastic that the operators are rewarded for their hard work."

Flights to Sydney, which is the provincial capital of New South Wales, are available with airlines including British Airways, Sydney and Virgin Atlantic.

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