Award hails top tourism training

TOURISM Greater Geelong and The Bellarine has taken out a gold award at the RACV Victorian Tourism Awards for aiming to raise professional standards within the industry.

Presented by the Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) for the third year, the RACV Victorian Tourism Awards gala ceremony is the tourism, events and hospitality industry’s night of nights, celebrating winners across 30 categories for their outstanding contributions to the industry.

Taking out the Tourism Education and Training category, Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine is the newest recognised regional tourism association in Victoria.

They represent one of the most visited regions outside of Melbourne and aim to raise professional standards within the industry by offering an extensive training and development calendar of events – both face-to-face and online.

Topics include confidence building, marketing, international visitation, corporate social responsibility, social media, familiarisation tours.

Members are kept up to date with current tourism trends and making connections with other like-minded people through corporate communications and networking opportunities.

Geelong and Bellarine Visitor Information Service also won bronze in the Visitor Information Services category.

In its 33rd year, there were 126 entries in 2017, with 73 winners achieving a score of 75 per cent or more determining them as winners.

VTIC chief executive officer Brad Ostermeyer congratulated regional Victorian tourism operators on their outstanding calibre of entries and success in this year’s awards.