Nomination Deadline Extended Until 6 August
Following recent issues surrounding the upgrade of the Tourism Industry Council NSW website, the nomination date for the 2010 NSW Tourism Awards of July 23 has been extended to Friday 6 August.
This means that tourism operators in NSW wishing to enter the awards
have an extra two weeks to submit their nomination and payment!
For more information please contact Shan Lawson, Awards Coordinator on
(02) 4333 8908, email awards@ticnsw.com.au or visit the website:
www.awards.ticnsw.com.au.
Entrants can nominate directly on the E-Awards site www.eawards.com.au/qata10/nsw/intro.php.
Automatic Finalist - What Does It Mean?
Participants in regional awards programs should be aware that when they
win at their local awards and then go on to participate in the NSW
Tourism Awards they will automatically receive the status of Finalist.
This is itself is a great marketing tool and fully worth entering your
regional awards. However, please note that this does not mean that the
entry process to the NSW Tourism Awards is automatic.
Entrants must still nominate and pay via the eAwards link by August 6
(www.eawards.com.au/qata10/nsw/intro.php) and then submit their written
entry in PDF format, 10 images and 100-word description by August 31.
Those who did not win at regional awards, or did not enter regional
awards, are still very much eligible to enter the NSW Tourism Awards
directly.
All entrants should take advantage of our free one-hour mentoring to
tweak their submissions before submitting it to the NSW Tourism Awards.
Therefore if you do not win locally, do not be discouraged as you can
get assistance and resubmit your entry for judging at a State level.
For more information please contact Shan Lawson, Awards Coordinator on
(02) 4333 8908, email awards@ticnsw.com.au or visit the website:
www.awards.ticnsw.com.au.
Good Luck to the Inland NSW Tourism Awards Finalists
Only three more sleeps to go until the winners in the Inland NSW Tourism
Awards are announced at the Gala Event in Temora on Friday July 24.
NSW Tourism Awards Chair of Judges, Jerry Bour, will be in attendance to
speak to winners and finalists about taking the next step and entering
the NSW Tourism Awards.
Best of luck to all!
Submission Hints and Tips
We're over half way through the tips for your awards submission. So far
we've covered Question 1 Product, Question 2 Business Plans and
Question 3 Marketing. Let's move on to Question 4, which covers two
areas, Customer Service and Professional Development.
a) Explain how you achieve and maintain quality customer service throughout your organisation*.
Explain how you both achieve and then maintain customer service. What
is your customer service philosophy? Detail your customer service
initiatives:
-
Do you have formal and/or informal training?
-
Do you have a training manual?
-
Include outcomes of customer service initiatives e.g. increasing average spend or number of visits.
-
What is the source of customer satisfaction - referral, repeat business, positive feedback?
-
Show that you ask/survey your visitors.
-
Did you implement any changes based on feedback?
b) How do you identify and provide for people with specific needs?*
You must talk about how you identify specific needs groups particular to
your business, not just what you provide for them. Specific needs is
not just special needs, consider: language, physical, intellectual,
dietary, and special interest groups. There may be something in your
area/region that attracts particular groups such as birdwatchers,
cyclists, surfers, bushwalkers, motorcycle groups, festival attendees,
new agers, families, weddings, heritage devotees, art lovers, campers,
business travellers. Think about what that could mean to your business
and do you cater for them in some way? Have a look at your target
market list from Question 3 to help you identify specific needs.
Some other tips for all your questions:
-
If possible, try and start each question on a new page
-
Always write out the question first and then start your answer
-
When using acronyms please write it in full first with the acronym in
brackets, you can then use the acronym only from then on (don't assume
all judges know your particular industry 'language')
-
Measure your outcomes and quantify your statements - you need to be able to back up what you say!
*We have used Category 2 Tourist Attractions as the basis for these
example questions. Your particular category questions may vary so
please ensure you read them carefully.
Mentoring
Don't miss out on our offer of one hour of free mentoring per
entrant/submission for entrants of the NSW Tourism Awards who have
nominated and paid their entry fee by August 6, 2010.
Write your submission and get it to a place where you're reasonably
happy with it. Then email it to Shan Lawson at awards@ticnsw.com.au .
If the file is too large to send using regular email visit
www.yousendit.com to upload to a secure website.
A mentor will read your submission and provide you with written
feedback. They'll then follow up with a phone call to discuss. This
sort of one-on-one advice will really help you sharpen your awards
submission.
Key Dates
-
24th July 2010 - Inland NSW Tourism Awards Gala Event
-
4th August 2010 - Greater Sydney Tourism Awards Gala Event
-
6th August 2010 - Blue Mountains Tourism Awards Gala Event
-
6th August 2010 - Nominations close in the NSW Tourism Awards
-
11th August 2010 - South Coast Tourism Awards Gala Event
-
19th August 2010 - Hunter Region Tourism Awards Gala Event
-
14th August 2010 - North Coast Tourism Awards Gala Event
-
31st August 2010 - Submissions due in the NSW Tourism Awards
-
19th November 2010 - NSW Tourism Awards Gala Event
Call for Entries Booklet with DVD
Don't forget our Call for Entries booklets are available. It contains
all the important dates, rules for entry and contact information in a
convenient A5-sized booklet.
It also includes a DVD that contains hints and tips sheets on Financial
Viability, Sustainability, Risk Management and Feedback Tips from Judges
plus a video presentation of our workshop - Winning Submissions,
Winning Awards. Request your copy now from Shan Lawson, our Awards
Coordinator, by emailing her at awards@ticnsw.com.au .
With only 6 weeks to go until submissions are due in the NSW Tourism Awards it's time to draft your Customer Service questions.
Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Please note the mobile number for Shan Lawson has changed.
You can reach her on 0417 657 064 or (02) 4333 8908.
Alternatively call the Tourism Industry Council NSW on (02) 9267 6865.
Kind regards,
Jerry Bour
Chair of Judges
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