Questacon awarded

Questacon – the National Science and Technology Centre has won the Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Award in the Tourist Attraction category.

‘This award recognises the quality of the hands on science activities and the consistently high standard of the visitor experience at Questacon,” said Professor Graham Durant, Questacon Director.

The annual Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Awards aim to showcase the best of the region’s tourist industry organisations and promotes, encourages and rewards tourism excellence.

Questacon delivers over 6 million hours of inspiration to over 3 million people throughout Australia across all outreach programs, online programs and at Questacon in Canberra by making science and technology concepts accessible in a fascinating and entertaining way.

Questacon will represent the Canberra and Capital Region at the 2012 Australian Tourism Awards in Hobart on 15 February 2013.

Workshops Rail Museum wins two years in a row

Meanwhile Queensland’s Workshops Rail Museum has claimed another tourism accolade, named the top tourist attraction in the state for the second year running.

Museum director Andrew Moritz said “When we opened the museum in 2002 at the historic Ipswich Railway Workshops we knew we had something special, but the success of the museum over the past 10 years has surpassed all our wildest expectations,” he said.

“At the heart of it is the amazing story of the men and women of the Ipswich Railway Workshops site from 1865 and their contribution to the development of Queensland and the intrinsic link forever with the Ipswich community.”

The Workshop Rail Museum opened in 2002 and some 850,000 patrons have passed through its gates in that time.

The site was also a finalist in the Heritage and Cultural Tourism category.

The museum is part of the Queensland Museum Network and is a wholly interactive experience exploring Queensland’s railway story through exhibitions, tours, demonstrations and steam train journeys.

The Workshops Rail Museum is now representing Queensland in the Tourist Attraction category at the Australian Tourism Awards to be held in Hobart in February.