Daintree Discovery Centre has been recognised at the Queensland Tourism Awards, taking out the Qantas Award for Excellence in Sustainability.

As reported on The Newsport last week, the Daintree Discovery Centre was nominated for three gongs including best tourism attraction, ecotourism, and sustainability awards.

Winners were announced at the Queensland Tourism Awards held in Brisbane on Friday night.

Centre owner Ron Birkett, was elated with the win.

“I’m sure the Centre’s Carbon Offset/Bio-sequestration project played a major part in the award, though it’s important to ensure we follow best practice in all levels of the business,” he said.

“Our team is passionate about conserving the environment so that people from all over the world can enjoy it, now and into the future. Our culture is such that everything we do reinforces the need to preserve this very special World Heritage area.”

The Daintree Discovery Centre will now go on to compete at a national level, at the National Tourism Awards to be held in Cairns in March 2012.

The Centre’s site was especially chosen for its extraordinary bio-diversity and was located away from the main road to protect the aesthetic beauty of the area.

Buildings were constructed around trees rather than removing them, wildlife corridors carefully protected, and the rainforest canopy left undisturbed.

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