Close to 1000 people gathered for the gala dinner at which Southern Highlands Tourism won both the Horizon Living Tourism Award and the Bluescope Steel Barry Smith Award.

Executive manager Steve Rosa said the awards were the biggest in regional Australia and it was a real honour for his team to win the tourism category over companies such as Novotel and Rydges.

“It was a very hard field,” Mr Rosa said.

“This is a great acknowledgement and recognition for the work that Team Southern Highlands has undertaken over the past two years to rebuild, rebrand and reposition the Southern Highlands as a key tourist destination.

“We were actually pulling together all of our industry and government and community... In the past I think it has been an industry that’s been fragmented.”

Mr Rosa said it had been a difficult two years for tourism but his team had worked hard developing new events and a new website.

He said future steps included targeting family and friend visits (which make up 46 per cent of visitors) and the international market.

“While domestic tourism is not growing, let’s maximise what we’ve got.

“Growth is going to come out of the international tourism market particularly China and India,” he said.

Southern Highlands Business Chamber president Terry Oakes-Ash, who attended the dinner, said he was delighted by Tourism Southern Highland’s success.

He congratulated Mr Rosa and his team and urged other businesses to support local tourism.

“Come on guys — they need your support,” he said.

Internetrix was named Integral Energy Illawarra Business of the Year, judged by a team headed by Professor Gerard Sutton.