Celebrating the NQ Tourism & Events Awards

One of Townsville’s most prominent and influential figures in the North Queensland tourism industry has been recognised at the 2022 North Queensland Tourism and Events Awards.

Laurie Murphy, Associate Professor with James Cook University’s College of Business, Law, and Governance received the Richard Power Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual at a gala event held on Friday night at The Ville Resort-Casino.

The award recognises extraordinary personal and professional achievement and contribution to the local tourism and events industry. Townsville Enterprise Limited CEO, Claudia Brumme-Smith says Laurie is a deserving winner of the highly regarded award.

“Laurie has dedicated her career to tourism research and the development of this important industry,” Claudia explains.

“Laurie’s engagement with the tourism and event industry extends beyond her teaching and research activities. She is on several local committees and has worked with industry to secure grants and funding for carious projects which have directly benefitted our Townsville North Queensland tourism industry.”

Laurie says she is very honoured to receive the recognition.

“It is an honour to receive this award in Richard Power’s name and to be associated with his legacy as a champion of the region,” she says.

“Over more than 30 years as an academic at JCU I have worked with so many interesting and inspiring people in the tourism and events industry – it is these opportunities to do applied research, work on practical projects, and to connect students to careers that is the most rewarding aspect of my job.

“I know that the past few years have been particularly challenging, and I acknowledge the hard work that industry operators do, to create memorable experiences for visitors. I look forward to continuing to engage with industry with the hope of facilitating that hard work and take great pride in seeing so many former students out there achieving good things!”

Townsville Enterprise Director Visitor Economy and Marketing, Lisa Woolfe says the tourism industry plays an integral part of what makes North Queensland so special.

“The North Queensland Tourism and Events Awards recognise the outstanding contribution of our tourism and events operators and acknowledges the exceptional experiences they provide visitors and locals,” Lisa elaborates.

Operators and individuals were nominated across 11 different categories and for the first time, Best Of Queensland operators with a 100% score were acknowledged at the North Queensland Tourism and Events Awards.

“The Best of Queensland Program was implemented by Tourism and Events Queensland to encourage tourism operators to reach certain benchmarks for visitor experience, reviews and online presence,” Lisa says.

“There are 80 tourism operators within our region with Best of Queensland status and we are thrilled to acknowledge Aquascene, The Ville, Big Mama Sailing, Billabong Sanctuary and Orpheus Island Lodge on achieving 100% Best of Queensland scores.”

Winners List

Images credit – Budd Photography

Click here to see more images from the event.