Come with me on a short journey, if you will, back in time. Its late 2021 and Launceston is named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. Fast forward to February 2022 and Launceston is named WOTIF’s Top Aussie Town. Jump ahead to last Monday and the news broke, Launceston is the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania (TICT)’s Top Tassie Tourism Town for 2022.
Three awards were presented in the 2022 Top Tourism Town Awards, with Strahan taking out the award for towns with a population less than 1500, Sheffield taking out the award for towns with a population under 5000 and Launceston winning the category for towns with a population over 5000.
As the editorial article that formed part of Launceston’s submission to the award states:
There’s something that lies beneath the surface here that defines us as a city. You may not see it at first, but the moment you step foot here, you feel it. You sense it in the architecture, in the streets, out in nature, between the people —an undercurrent—born from generations of hard-work, curiosity, community, resilience, independence.
It’s clear from our UNESCO designation, and our Top Town Awards that they’re on to us… the world is waking up to what a wonderful piece of the world we have here. It’s also clear we’re on our way to achieving the Chamber’s vision for Launceston to be one of the great regional cities of the world.
While these awards and the UNESCO designation are an amazing achievement, particularly for our outstanding tourism, food, beverage and hospitality businesses, we can’t rest on our laurels. We need to keep striving to improve our city. So how do we continue to progress our city?
- Greening will make for a great start. A greener city is a more vibrant city and vibrancy attracts more social activity in our CBD.
- An improved night-time economy will enable visitors to enjoy our amazing food and beverages in style while enjoying on-street dining. This will commence with City Heart Stage 2, which we still hope will receive the federal funding it needs to commence.
- Innovation and technology to make Launceston an even smarter city, offer wayfinding to tourists and telling our heritage stories could increase awareness and interaction with our rich history. (Please see the article below participating in the Smart City Strategy survey)
To quote Mayor Albert van Zetten, “It’s fantastic to see our city being recognised once more for its tourism offering and I want to congratulate all those who work in the sector so passionately to attract new visitors to Launceston.”
Congratulations Launceston!
Have you got an idea that would make our top town (city) even better? We’d love to hear it.