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2009 Australian Gourmet Traveller Travel Awards

Amid the global economic gloom it’s easy to overlook the many bright spots appearing on this country’s horizon. So there is no time like the present to usher in the third annual Gourmet Traveller Travel Awards, our celebration of Australia’s most outstanding attractions, its exceptional environments and its most passionate advocates. These highly respected accolades, proudly presented in association with Nespresso, are bestowed on only the cream of Australian tourism operators. Each year they chart the unique, unforgettable experiences that make our homeland so compelling for natives and foreigners alike.

Our panel of travel experts, comprising writers, editors, photographers, guidebook authors and industry heads, brainstorms the shortlist of nominations in each category. Then voting is thrown open to the public via our website, gourmettraveller.com.au. Between 26 April and 3 May, you responded in record numbers: this year, the 13 public awards attracted a phenomenal 33,600 votes from Gourmet readers and viewers of the Nine Network’s Getaway program. Your enthusiastic response may have had something to do with the fantastic voter’s prize we offered this year: a $24,000 blue-chip Parisian escape with return Club World business airfares for two and accommodation at the Hotel Bel Ami, with thanks to key awards partners British Airways and Design Hotels. Our panel adjudicated on a further six peer-reviewed categories – what’s the nation’s best eco-tourism initiative? Its best tour operator? – and came up with some very worthy winners.

Overall, you’ll find some familiar faces in our winning line-up. Top-flight operators such as Palazzo Versace, Anangu Waai, Cradle Mountain Lodge and Daylesford’s landmark Lake House have emerged as standard-bearers of the GT awards, each blitzing its field for the second year running, although some have swapped categories this year. (Australian tourism is endlessly adaptive.)

Your votes also celebrate the new, rewarding industry innovators such as Brisbane’s bold new Emporium Hotel and Hamilton Island’s sexiest-ever address, Qualia.

Thanks to our sponsor Nespresso, congratulations to our winners, and thanks for reminding us we’ve still got plenty to smile about.

What are you waiting for? Check out all the winners of our 2009 Australian Gourmet Traveller Travel Awards now.

WORDS KENDALL HILL PHOTOGRAPH PETER EVE