By Mitch Gaynor
HINTERLAND Tourism has secured the rights to host the prestigious Australian Bridal Industry Awards next year in an extraordinary coup for the region.
It will be the first time the event – and pre-eminent industry awards ceremony – has ever been held outside a national city. Hinterland Tourism announced the coup at the 2024/25 AGM at Montvale in Montville in front of 50 guests including Glass House MP, Andrew Powell and Sunshine Coast
Regional Council Mayor, Rosanna Natoli. HT president, Kerry Brown, said it was an incredible achievement that would boost not only the local wedding industry but the broader tourism market.
“These awards are incredibly well respected and very difficult to win,” she said. “It’s like the Grammy’s for music!”
The event will be held in conjunction with the annual Winter Wedding Expo, which alone attracts about 1200 people. The ABIA event will then follow with three days of events culminating in the awards night to be held at Flaxton Gardens.
“Everybody benefits with an event like this,” Ms Brown said. “Everyone needs accommodation, somewhere to eat, drink, socialise and visit.” Securing the awards is the next big step for Hinterland Tourism, which wants to shift the perception of the local wedding industry from “niche” to a genuine economic driver.
“For the last 10 years, people have continually said that we’re a niche market,”
Ms Brown said. “Since Rosanna Natoil became mayor there’s been a change of attitude and the council is coming to see the true value of this multimillion-dollar economy.”
In a sign of that growing support the council undertook a survey of wedding expo attendees earlier this year, finding that almost 50 per cent were likely to book a wedding
in the region, 47 per cent were likely to book a local vendor, that guests stayed an average of 3.6 nights and that the average wedding spend in the region is about $36,000. “This sort of data is crucial to supporting our case that we are big and the more support we have the bigger we can grow,” Ms Brown said.
The ABIA announcement follows a big year for the tourism body, with the production of two digital magazines to entice people into the region. The bi-monthly Head on Up, with the first edition focused on helping tourists to maximise a weekend in Maleny. While I DO promotes the region’s wedding venues and suppliers in the hinterland region.
