	{"id":114826,"date":"2026-06-06T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/?p=114826"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:29:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:29:33","slug":"tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism chops to be tested in state awards scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BENDIGO has been named as a finalist for the sixth year in a row in the population greater than 5000 category of the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards.<\/p>\n<p>The winner of each of the three categories in this year&#8217;s awards will be partly decided by a public vote.<\/p>\n<p>The City of Greater Bendigo&#8217;s preliminary submission included a recommended itinerary for a four-day stay in Bendigo, taking in the Central Deborah Gold Mine, a vintage tram journey, a city centre walking tour with Djaara guides, a visit to the Botanic Gardens and Bendigo Pottery, and a Discover Bendigo guided tour.<\/p>\n<p>City economy and experience manager James Myatt said it was great news for Bendigo to be shortlisted.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is very exciting for Bendigo to be acknowledged as a must-see visitor destination that delivers amazing, memorable experiences,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have a dedicated and passionate tourism industry, including attractions, accommodation and hospitality providers that are proud to offer something for people of all ages and interests.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Myatt said the final results will be arrived at through the combination of public voting, user reviews, a video promotion and suggested itineraries.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I encourage the community to vote for Bendigo,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ask your friends and family to do the same and spread the word.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To submit a vote before the Friday 26 June deadline and go into the draw to win a holiday for two in Melbourne, visit the <a href=\"http:\/\/vtic.com.au\/toptourismtown\">Victoria Tourism Industry Council website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The three winners will be announced on Wednesday 12 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BENDIGO has been named as a finalist for the sixth year in a row in the population greater than 5000 category of the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards. The winner of each of the three categories in this year&#8217;s awards will be partly decided by a public vote. The City of Greater Bendigo&#8217;s preliminary submission [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":114831,"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-114826","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>Tourism chops to be tested in state awards scheme - Bendigo Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bendigo shortlisted again for Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards; residents encouraged to vote and showcase the city&#039;s attractions.\" \/>\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\/bendigotimes\/news\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tourism chops to be tested in state awards scheme - Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bendigo shortlisted again for Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards; residents encouraged to vote and showcase the city&#039;s attractions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2026\/06\/North-Images-030626-10.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Carswell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam Carswell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Adam Carswell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/adf4371b5a9ae0b61f7839c29319f35c\"},\"headline\":\"Tourism chops to be tested in state awards scheme\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":258,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/North-Images-030626-10.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tourism chops to be tested in state awards scheme - Bendigo Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/tourism-chops-to-be-tested-in-state-awards-scheme\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/North-Images-030626-10.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T18:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Bendigo shortlisted again for Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards; 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