Not only did the gondola operator win the supreme award at the event — held on home turf on Bob’s Peak — but former long-time chairman Barry Thomas also picked up a lifetime achievement award.
Mr Thomas, the company’s chairman for 33 years until 2009, said he was pleased to be recognised, particularly for his long involvement in what he described as "tourism politics".
While heading national tourism bodies in the 1970s and ’80s, he had made numerous trips to the United States and Japan to help promote the country as a tourist destination.
At that time, many Americans he met thought New Zealand was "somewhere up by Iceland".
"Now I get a lot of gratification out of seeing tourism as the largest overseas earner in New Zealand."
More evidence of tourism’s importance was that Prime Minister John Key held the tourism portfolio, where once it was given to lowly-ranked ministers outside cabinet, he said.
Supreme award winner Skyline Queenstown was a finalist in four categories, winning three.
Its gondola, which began operating in 1967, will have a $100million revamp in 2018.
Mark Quickfall, chairman of parent company Skyline Enterprises, said the company’s management team was not only dealing with rising visitor numbers, but also helping with the planning process for the revamp.
That made the award particularly well-deserved for general manager Lyndon Thomas and his team, Mr Quickfall said.
"They’re working a lot harder than in normal circumstances, so it was fantastic to see them recognised for that publicly."
The awards, which are organised by the resort’s chamber of commerce, are held every two years.
