Byron Shire to co-host 2025 Tourism Symposium and Awards
Published on 20 March 2025
Byron Shire Council is excited to announce it will co-host the 2025 North Coast Tourism Symposium and North Coast Regional Tourism Awards on Thursday 31 July, with Destination North Coast NSW. Local tourism businesses are encouraged to apply for the prestigious North Coast Regional Tourism Awards which are open until 9 May.
The North Coast Tourism Symposium is an annual one-day tourism industry event that brings together 14 North Coast local government areas (LGAs) from the MidCoast, Port Macquarie-Hastings area all the way up to Byron and Tweed Shires, including Lord Howe Island. The venue will be announced soon.
“We’re honoured to be co-hosting this year’s Tourism Symposium for our region. It’s a wonderful opportunity to highlight the rich creativity, spectacular nature and resilience that has always been a part of our community here in Byron Shire,” Byron Shire Mayor, Sarah Ndiaye, said.
“Like many of our North Coast neighbours, we’ve faced significant challenges in recent years — from the impacts of Covid and natural disasters to the more recent cyclone.
“These challenges have, at times, brought hardship, but they’ve also sparked new ways of thinking, growth, and a deeper sense of adaptability.
“Byron Shire is a place where diverse ideas and experiences come together, and now, more than ever, we have the chance to reflect on and celebrate how far we’ve come and the vision for what we would like our visitor economy to look like in the future.
“I encourage all our local tourism businesses to get involved in the North Coast Regional Tourism Awards.
“Supported by Destination NSW, the awards process offers valuable resources, including webinars and expert guidance, as a way to recognise the dedication and innovation that contribute to our shared success,” Mayor Ndiaye said.
The North Coast Regional Tourism Awards feature 18 categories that align with the NSW Tourism Awards and Australian Tourism Awards.
The program celebrates excellence and equips tourism businesses with the tools for lasting success.
This initiative is supported by an extensive program designed to drive business growth and industry best practice.
Byron Shire Council’s Business and Industry Project Lead, Nicole Silburn, said it would be great to have more Byron-based businesses participating in the Awards.
“We’d love these awards to reflect the true diversity of our tourism businesses, and particularly this year, we’d love to see applications from our ecotourism, cultural tourism and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Tourism Experiences coming through,” Mrs Silburn said.
“We’d also encourage our accommodation providers at all levels to get involved, as well as our new tourism businesses, accessible tourism businesses and our distilleries and breweries,” she said.
Key Dates
- Nominations open: 10 March
- Submissions open: 26 March
- Nominations close: 11 April
- Submissions close: 9 May
- North Coast Tourism Awards Gala: 31 July
For more information about the 2025 North Coast Tourism Symposium and North Coast Regional Tourism Awards visit: https://dncnsw.com/2025-north-coast-regional-tourism-awards/