	{"id":96408,"date":"2023-09-22T04:55:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T18:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=96408"},"modified":"2023-09-15T13:27:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T03:27:16","slug":"ballarat-runner-up-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballarat runner up nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT has been awarded the silver prize in the Top Tourism Town Awards, making it one of the best destinations in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement was made last Thursday by the Federal Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell.<\/p>\n<p>Victoria Tourism Industry Council acting chief executive, Chris Porter, said the awards acknowledge all the state has to offer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re so thrilled to see Ballarat recognised one of the best tourism towns in Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust 90 minutes from Melbourne, it\u2019s an ideal short-stay destination for art and architecture lovers, nature- seekers, foodies and families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The awards aim to recognise Australian towns which are committed to providing an exceptional tourism experience.<\/p>\n<p>City of Ballarat mayor Cr Des Hudson said the award demonstrates Ballarat is one of the best places in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRich in history dating back tens of thousands of years, our evolving culture has shaped the Ballarat of today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom our natural wonders and thriving creative culture to the flavoursome dishes served up by the city&#8217;s talented chefs, there&#8217;s no shortage of enriching experiences to unlock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mandurah in Western Australia was declared Australia\u2019s Top Tourism Town. In the Tiny Tourism Town category Aireys Inlet also received a sliver, while Sorrento took bronze for Small Tourism Town award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT has been awarded the silver prize in the Top Tourism Town Awards, making it one of the best destinations in Australia. The announcement was made last Thursday by the Federal Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell. Victoria Tourism Industry Council acting chief executive, Chris Porter, said the awards acknowledge all the state has [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":96409,"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-96408","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>Ballarat runner up nationwide - 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\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ballarat runner up nationwide - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BALLARAT has been awarded the silver prize in the Top Tourism Town Awards, making it one of the best destinations in Australia. The announcement was made last Thursday by the Federal Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell. Victoria Tourism Industry Council acting chief executive, Chris Porter, said the awards acknowledge all the state has [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-21T18:55:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/09\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"562\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Miriam Litwin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Miriam Litwin\" \/>\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\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Miriam Litwin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1\"},\"headline\":\"Ballarat runner up nationwide\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-21T18:55:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":217,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat runner up nationwide - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-21T18:55:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":562,\"caption\":\"Shining light: Ballarat has taken out second prize in the national Top Tourism Town awards. Photo: FILE\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ballarat runner up nationwide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1\",\"name\":\"Miriam Litwin\",\"description\":\"Miriam Litwin is a journalist and digital content lead with the Ballarat Times, Golden Plains Times and Moorabool News, covering local politics and community news.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/miriam\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ballarat runner up nationwide - Ballarat Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ballarat runner up nationwide - Ballarat Times","og_description":"BALLARAT has been awarded the silver prize in the Top Tourism Town Awards, making it one of the best destinations in Australia. The announcement was made last Thursday by the Federal Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell. Victoria Tourism Industry Council acting chief executive, Chris Porter, said the awards acknowledge all the state has [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2023-09-21T18:55:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":562,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/09\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Miriam Litwin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Miriam Litwin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/"},"author":{"name":"Miriam Litwin","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1"},"headline":"Ballarat runner up nationwide","datePublished":"2023-09-21T18:55:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/"},"wordCount":217,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/09\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/","name":"Ballarat runner up nationwide - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/09\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-21T18:55:34+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/09\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/09\/DJI_0053-2-web.jpg","width":1000,"height":562,"caption":"Shining light: Ballarat has taken out second prize in the national Top Tourism Town awards. Photo: FILE"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-runner-up-nationwide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ballarat runner up nationwide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1","name":"Miriam Litwin","description":"Miriam Litwin is a journalist and digital content lead with the Ballarat Times, Golden Plains Times and Moorabool News, covering local politics and community news.","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/miriam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96408"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=96408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}