4 — Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, October 8, 2013

NEWS

Minister’s absence noticed at awardsBryan Littlely

TOURISM Minister and Minis-ter for Central Australia MattConlan was a noticeable no-showat the Tourism Central AustraliaAwards.

There was no apology given,prompting several tourism oper-ators to ask: ‘‘Where the bloodyhell is he?’’

Mr Conlan told the Centralian

Advocate yesterday he neededsome family time as he would be

away from home town AliceSprings for the rest of the month.

‘‘A bloke is allowed to have acouple of days off, surely?’’ MrConlan said.

‘‘I’m away for the whole of themonth with parliamentary sit-tings and I’m going overseas toJapan and China to drive busi-ness for these tourism operators.’’

Tourism NT was representedby chief executive officer TonyMayell at the presentation night.

Mr Conlan did officially open

the Tourism Central Australiaconference earlier in the daywhere he announced the NTGovernment’s Digital ActivationProgram.

Under the program, tourismbusinesses in Central Australiacan apply for up to $3000 to helpwith digital marketing.

‘‘Digital marketing is absolutelycritical to our plans to grow theTerritory’s tourism industry,’’ MrConlan said.

‘‘The online digital world is

growing and our NT operatorsneed to be in front of the game toremain competitive.

‘‘We want to help our localoperators get up to speed and this$3000 will go a long way towardshelping to grow their businesses,with the funding able to be usedon a range of digital marketingactivities.

‘‘This is a significant $1 millioninvestment in our industry thatwill help return the sector togrowth and reverse serious de-

clines in visitation to the Territ-ory, which occurred under theprevious government.’’

Applications for the $3000 grantpart of the program close onNovember 18. Funding for a webdeveloper is included to helpthose businesses who require as-sistance in implementing theirnew marketing campaigns.

To make a grant application, goto www.tourismnt.com.au/DigitalMarketing.aspx or callTourism NT on 8999 3936.

Triple treat for tour operator

Tourism Central Australia award winners, from left: Richard Black, Denise Horner, Mark Swindel, Chris Hill, Chris Satori, Mandy Vaughan, MegFoster,Terry Hooten, Darren Vuolanne and Toby Kundert.

Denise Horner won the Barry Bucholtz Award for Excellence. She ispictured with TCA general manager Jaclyn Thorne and TCA chairman JeffHuyben. Pictures: JUSTIN BRIERTY

Centralian Advocate editor Bryan Littlely presents the Festivals andEvents Award to Alice Springs Turf Club CEO Terry Hooten for the2013 XXXX Gold Alice Springs Cup Carnival.

Jessica Brown

‘It’s a real honour,

especially when you

think about the

company we were

sharing on the night

’

ULURU Camel Tours wasthe star business at Fridaynight’s 2013 Tourism Cen-tral Australia Awards, tak-ing out multiple accolades.

It claimed three of theeight awards – the ChifleyAlice Springs New TourismInnovation Award and theImparja Small Tourism Op-erator Award, plus manag-ing director Chris Hill win-ning the Voyages AyersRock Industry AchieverAward.

Mr Hill said the UluruCamel Tours team was sur-prised because it never ex-pected it would win multipleawards.

‘‘We were surprised butnot shocked — we’re a hard-working company so it’sgreat to be recognised,’’ MrHill said.

‘‘It’s a real honour, especi-ally when you think aboutthe company we were shar-ing on the night.’’

Mr Hill said staff mem-bers had not yet had theopportunity to celebrate as

they had to get straightback to work after the event,but would do so soon.

‘‘We would have liked tohave celebrated more butwe’re so busy,’’ he said.

‘‘We’ll throw a party for allour staff (later) because theyare our number one asset.’’

A combination of busi-nesses and individuals werepresented with awards atthe event, which took placeat the Alice Springs TurfClub.

Winning businesses in-cluded Lasseters Hotel Ca-sino, which took home theYubu Napa Large TourismOperator Award, andXXXX Gold, awarded theCentralian Advocate Festi-vals and Events Award forits 2013 Alice Springs CupCarnival.

Individual winners in-cluded Darren Vuolannefrom Australian TransitGroup Downunder Toursfor the Commercial Passen-ger Vehicle Driver of theYear, Toby Kundert fromOnTour NT with the Aust-ralian Transit GroupD o w n u n d e r Y o u n gAchiever Award and DeniseHorner taking home theBarry Bucholtz Award forExcellence.

The awards acknowledge,recognise and celebrate thetourism industry in CentralAustralia.