Tourism Tropical North Queensland has won Initiative of the Year at the Regenerative Travel Impact Awards 2025. The win covered two international campaigns focused on the Great Barrier Reef –Guardian of the Reef and The Lifetime of Greatness Project.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland launched Guardian of the Reef in October 2024, with the aim of linking reef visitation with protection. Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen said: “TTNQ united Great Barrier Reef tourism operators in October 2024 to launch Guardian of the Reef to show that experiencing the Reef is one of the most powerful ways to protect it.” He added: “Once people see it, they love it and want to protect it.”
The organisation said it built a learning and booking platform with Expedia Group. It said the platform connects travellers to products certified by EarthCheck or EcoTourism Australia.
Second campaign – The Lifetime of Greatness Project
The second campaign, The Lifetime of Greatness Project, launched globally on Earth Day in April 2025. Tourism Tropical North Queensland said it nominated the Reef as the first non-human recipient of UNEP’s Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award.
Olsen said: “The Project nominated the Great Barrier Reef as the first non-human recipient of the United Nations Environment Program’s Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award.” Tourism Tropical North Queensland said the campaign drew 1.3m supporters. It also said it “reframed the Reef as a living entity worthy of the world’s highest environmental honour.”
Both initiatives were funded through the federal government’s International Tourism Recovery Program, with the work reportedly reaching audiences 297bn times through global PR and paid media. TTNQ has stated that Guardian of the Reef generated more than $32m in economic benefit for reef communities and delivered more than $75,000 directly to conservation programmes.