Emporium shines at Australian Tourism Awards

Emporium Hotel in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley

The Emporium Hotel in Fortitude Valley has taken out the top gong for luxury accommodation at the Australian Tourism Awards for the second year in a row.

The Wickham Street hotel, which beat interstate rivals from the Hilton, Sebel and Hyatt chains, was one of 11 Queensland tourism operators to take out awards.

The Narrows Escape Rainforest Retreat at Montville on the Sunshine Coast won the hosted accommodation category.

Narrows Escape Rainforest Retreat in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland

The Whitsunday Escape, which rents out furnished yachts and boats, won the unique accommodation.

Other award winners included tour operators Quicksilver Group and Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours in Cape Tribulation in tropical north Queensland.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the industry wanted to double overnight visitor expenditure to $30 billion by 2020.

“It has been a tough road travelled by some Queensland tourism businesses in the past few years following a series of natural weather disasters and economic challenges,” he said.

The tourism council said there were 136,000 Queenslanders, or 5.9 per cent of the state's employees, who worked in the tourism industry.