	{"id":84276,"date":"2022-05-12T04:54:57","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T17:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=84276"},"modified":"2022-05-11T21:33:37","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T10:33:37","slug":"town-up-for-top-tourism-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Town up for top tourism award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT has been announced as one of the eighteen finalists in the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards.<\/p>\n<p>The accolade is being hosted by the Victoria Tourism Industry Council, and CEO Felicia Mariani said it highlights the state\u2019s most exceptional visitor destination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictorians have been charmed by their own backyard. Two years of being in and out of lockdown have shown many of us we don\u2019t have to leave Victoria for a getaway. It\u2019s renewed our love for stunning regional destinations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Victorian Tourism Awards capture that love, and help us honour our favourite parts of this great state as a Top Tourism Town.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Public voting for the finalists opened earlier this week and will run until Tuesday, 31 May with all voters going in the draw to win a Melbourne getaway experience for two.<\/p>\n<p>The nominees have been split into three categories including Top Tourism Towns, the Top Small Tourism Towns and the Top Tiny Tourism Towns.<\/p>\n<p>The winning towns of each category will receive coverage on Prime 7 before proceeding to the national stage where they will go in the running to be named Australia\u2019s Top Tourism Towns.<\/p>\n<p>Ballarat is up against Bendigo, Echuca, Frankston, Lakes Entrance, Mildura, Shepparton and Werribee for the top-tier Top Tourism Town award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT has been announced as one of the eighteen finalists in the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards. The accolade is being hosted by the Victoria Tourism Industry Council, and CEO Felicia Mariani said it highlights the state\u2019s most exceptional visitor destination. \u201cVictorians have been charmed by their own backyard. Two years of being in and [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":84277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-84276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Town up for top tourism award - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Town up for top tourism award - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BALLARAT has been announced as one of the eighteen finalists in the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards. The accolade is being hosted by the Victoria Tourism Industry Council, and CEO Felicia Mariani said it highlights the state\u2019s most exceptional visitor destination. \u201cVictorians have been charmed by their own backyard. Two years of being in and [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-11T17:54:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/05\/Ballarat_aerial-02-large-scaled-e1652265199940.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Bottams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Bottams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tim Bottams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ef2cb0351151f52788a4263e854228dc\"},\"headline\":\"Town up for top tourism award\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-11T17:54:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":219,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Ballarat_aerial-02-large-scaled-e1652265199940.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/\",\"name\":\"Town up for top tourism award - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Ballarat_aerial-02-large-scaled-e1652265199940.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-11T17:54:57+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/town-up-for-top-tourism-award\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Ballarat_aerial-02-large-scaled-e1652265199940.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Ballarat_aerial-02-large-scaled-e1652265199940.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"State finals: Ballarat has been named as one of the eight finalists in the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards\u2019 Top Tourism Towns category. 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