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2023 Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence

Submissions are now closed!
Check back soon for the finalists announcement.

The Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence celebrate success and recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to Ontario’s tourism industry.

We opened in 2022, and business began again.  However, we are cautious, we are bold, we are innovative, and we are stable….it is a year that allows us to bring back the Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence.  However, we don’t want to ever forget that resiliency is in our DNA, and so our trophies this year will be a combination of previous Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence and the Resiliency Awards to reflect, how far we’ve come, and how we are stronger together. 

This year’s selection of awards have two new opportunities of entry.

The first is an additional award included in the Culinary Tourism Awards of Excellence – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. 

The second addition is The OTEC Workforce Innovation & Collaboration Award, which recognizes a business or organization that has developed an innovative, local solution to a workforce challenge, accomplished through collaborative partnership(s). Aligned with the values of the Tourism SkillsNet Ontario Alliance (TSNO), the award seeks to highlight the positive impacts of community collaboration in fostering resilience within the tourism and hospitality labour market. 

Two tips to make your nomination stand out to our judges:  

  1. Provide actions made towards diversity, equity, and inclusion in what they are being nominated for. 
  2. Each nomination has the opportunity to nominate another business for an Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence. (doesn’t have to be the same category, but could be).  By doing so, they will get an additional point in the judges' scoring. They can earn a second point, if they fill out a nomination application for that other individual or tourism business mentioned.

We want to continue this positivity and recognize...Building Industry Respect. 


Awards are jointly presented by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO), the Culinary Tourism Alliance, Attractions Ontario, and the Ontario Tourism Education Corporation(OTEC):

    • Tourism Industry Awards of Excellence 

    • Tourism Marketing & Travel Media Awards of Excellence 

    • Culinary Tourism Awards of Excellence (CTA)

    • Ontario's Choice Awards (Attractions Ontario)

    • Workforce Innovation and Collaboration Awards (OTEC)

 

Tourism Industry Awards of Excellence

Presented to organizations, businesses and individuals that represent the quality of offerings that make Ontario a destination of choice—innovations, events, employers and the tourism champions who make it all possible.

  1. Tourism Innovator of the Year
  2. Tourism Event of the Year
  3. Tourism Champion of the Year
  4. Tourism Employer of the Year
  5. Sustainable Tourism Award 
  6. Accessible Tourism Award 
  7. Indigenous Tourism Award 
  8. Lifetime Achievement Award 

  Learn More & Apply by August 21st!

Tourism Marketing & Travel Media Awards of Excellence

Celebrate the excellence and innovation of those who contribute to Ontario’s tourism industry through impactful tourism partnerships, marketing activities and media relations provincially, nationally and internationally.

  1. Tourism Digital Marketing Award
  2. Tourism Marketing Partnership Award
  3. Tourism Marketing Campaign Award - Over $50K
  4. Tourism Marketing Campaign Award - Under $50K
  5. Travel Media Story Award
  6. Travel Media Photography Award

Learn More & Apply by August 21st!

 

Culinary Tourism Awards of Excellence (CTA)

These awards are about the passion and excellence of those dedicated to advancing the culinary tourism movement in Ontario; they recognize those who work hard to tell the stories of our growers, producers, chefs, winemakers and brewers.

Nomination Categories:

  1. Culinary Tourism Alliance Leadership Award
  2. Culinary Tourism Experience Award
  3. Culinary Tourism Event of the Year Award
  4. Culinary Tourism Alliance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award

 

   Learn More & Apply by August 21st!

 

Workforce Innovation and Collaboration Awards (OTEC)

The OTEC Workforce Innovation & Collaboration Award recognizes a business or organization that has developed an innovative, local 
solution to a workforce challenge, accomplished through collaborative  partnership(s). Aligned with the values of the Tourism SkillsNet Ontario Alliance (TSNO), the award seeks to highlight the positive impacts of community collaboration in fostering resilience within the tourism and hospitality labour market. Eligible organizations should demonstrate how they have engaged with local stakeholders and developed unique connections, leveraged a range of resources, and/or achieved measurable results.

Eligibility:

· For initiatives between January 2019 - December 2022

· Open to any organization (for-profit, non-profit, educational, governmental etc.) that has developed and implemented an innovative and collaborative solution to a workforce challenge. 

Learn More & Apply by August 21st!

 

 

Ontario's Choice Awards (Attractions Ontario)

Visitors vote for their favourites in eight categories. The top three attractions with the most votes are finalists for the Attraction of the Year Award; the winner is announced at the Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence Gala on October 26, 2023.

Vote by September 10th!