History

The original Tourism Awards were held in 1955 under the auspices of the Travel Holiday Association and were developed over the years by its successors the National Travel Association, which in subsequent years became the Tourist Industry Federation (TIF) and Tourism Industry Association New Zealand.

In 1975 the Tourist and Publicity Department and subsequently the Tourism Board (now Tourism New Zealand) started the biennial Tourism Design Awards, which focused on the architecture, landscaping and design of products such as accommodation, publications and souvenirs. These were upgraded to a major event held in Parliament during the 1980s.

In 1990, it was mutually agreed that the two awards would be combined so that TNZ could bring increased resources to the event.  From 1991 to 1999 NZTB managed the awards with the award ceremony being aligned with the annual Tourism Industry Conference managed by TIA.  In 2000, the management of the awards was returned to TIA to increase the public private partnership approach to this project. 

In 2009 following an industry wide consultation the Tourism Industry, the Tourism Industry New Zealand Trust put the Tourism Awards on hold until 2010. The consultation discovered that while the Awards are respected and were considered to be one of New Zealand's best industry awards programmes, many tourism businesses found the criteria, categories and overall awards process too difficult and time-consuming to participate in.

The refreshed 2010 Tourism Industry Awards brought in the new theme of Innovating for Success.  The aim of the awards was to recognise success through innovation in a range of areas within tourism businesses. We celebrated and profiled those entities that have succeeded through innovative thinking and challenging the status quo. Additional to this we highlighted personalities within the tourism industry who have contributed to the entity they represent or the wider industry in unique ways.