Regional business success celebrated at 2015 SA Tourism Awards
Two Riverland tourism businesses have won top awards at the 2015 South Australian Tourism Awards, while a third has picked up a bronze award.
The Frames luxury accommodation in Renmark was named best Self Contained Accommodation and Griffens Marina Blanchetown was named the state's best Unique Accommodation.
A bronze medal was awarded to the Loxton Christmas Lights Festival in the Festivals and Events category.
Griffens Marina Blanchetown owner Don Griffen said it had been working for 15 years to create a unique house boating experience on the River Murray.
"Because we've got a couple of really good small boats we come up really well in search engines and we get a lot of interstate and overseas people, particularly Kiwis, who come in as just two people," he said.
"So probably 30 per cent of the time when our two bedroom boats go out with just a couple on that are going out to take part on having a holiday on our little stretch of river."
He said the company was thrilled to have won this year.
"We've been running a houseboat business for 15 years now and for a number of years houseboats have been quite predominate in the unique accommodation category," he said.
"A couple of years ago we thought perhaps we should bring the profile of the houseboat industry back up by entering and not only that but to bring our own profile up and so we entered last year and got a silver award and entered this year and won the big one."
Hall of fame gong for Indigenous tourism venture
Meanwhile, an Aboriginal tourism venture which covers the state's mid north and Yorke Peninsula has been inducted into the SA Tourism Awards Hall of Fame.
Aboriginal Cultural Tours - South Australia has now won best Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism experience three years running.
Other winners in the awards announced at the weekend include Yondah Beach House on Yorke Peninsula.
Winners on Eyre Peninsula were Adventure Bay Charters and Calypso Star Charters.
In the Barossa Valley, Getaways SA, the Barossa Visitor Centre and Seppeltsfield Winery won their categories.
The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden at Port Augusta also won its Ecotourism category, with Peterborough Tourism winning Destination Tourism.
Source: ABC News, 16th November 2015
Originally published as: Regional business success celebrated at 2015 SA Tourism Awards
