By Michael Burt
A congratulations email from Tourism NSW has sparked another round of celebrations at the Belfry Guesthouse.
The email informed manager Rowan Simon that Belfry had won gold in the Hosted Accommodation category at the NSW Tourism Awards night in Sydney.
The win comes on the back of gold at the North Coast Tourism Awards and launches the team at Belfry into contention for the Australian Tourism Awards to be held in Perth next year.
“It would have been great to be there in Sydney, but I had a family commitment and to be honest, I didn’t expect we would take home the trophy,” Rowan said.
“I thought we had already exceeded expectations with winning gold at the regional level and had basically forgotten about it.”
“I definitely will try and make it to Perth for the national awards in March. It is quite an expense for a small business like ours to attend these awards.”
With only nine rooms available, the Belfry is one of the smallest businesses to win the state tourism award. It won gold ahead of Amaroo Valley Springs (Silver) in the Kangaroo Valley and the prestigious Health Lodge (Bronze) in Byron Bay.”
“We were really competing with some of the top tourist destinations in NSW and the country.”
“There is so much that goes into winning an award like this, but one of the key factors is that we all just love working here. It’s just a great place to work.”
“We also really strive to keep our prices as low as can be, and we are in the middle of town without being in town. It’s such a unique spot.”
Those key assets of the guesthouse and increased exposure from the tourism awards have forged a busy few months ahead for Rowan’s team.
“It’s very busy. We are basically booked out from late December through to late January.”
The winners of the 2025 NSW Tourism Awards were announced at the NSW Tourism Gala celebration at Waterview in Bicentennial Park, Sydney.
Gold, silver and bronze awards were presented across 30 categories, celebrating excellence in business practices, visitor experiences and sustainability. In total, 78 winners were presented from 125 finalists, marking one of the largest and most competitive awards in recent years.
With a legacy spanning more than 30 years, the NSW Tourism Awards are the state’s longest-running tourism honours and the only pathway to the Australian Tourism Awards