The awards were put together by Cook Islands Tourism Industry Council in conjunction with Oceania Tourism Group with many local sponsors coming on line over the last three awards. They are held every two years and the process is completly independant of the Cooks, so there are no reasons to doubt the results and also it is a fabulous way to get good feedback from overseas specialists.

They are broken down into seven  different categories and also have special awards for specific areas of excellence:

     Environement, Culture and Heritage, Internet Marketing, Outer Islands, and Customer Care which was the underlying theme in this year's awards.

A Supreme Award is then given to an outstanding candidate who ticks all the boxes.

In addition the seven categories are:

     Accommodation      Budget

                                     Hotels and Resorts

                                     Private Rentals

                                     Self Catering which includes Villas

     Festivals and Events

     Tourism Attractions (including excursions, tours and experiences)

     Tourism Industry Support (includes retail, transport, and travel professionals)

The Awards were first presented in 2009 after the Tourism Industry Council decided the time was right; tourism was seen as a the number one foreign exchange earner and they wanted to lift the overall standards - and this has been the case over the three awards that have been judged. We have just come back from doing the assessing and judging of the third - the 2013 awards - and the standards were very high. Tough job!

The lobby of the Pacific Resort Aitutaki.