Groundwater Music Festival wins big at Australian Tourism Awards

The Gold Coast's Groundwater Country Music Festival has come away with the top gong among festivals at the 2019 Australian Tourism Awards.

It won top prize in the Festivals & Events category, having become eligible for the national award after winning gold at the Queensland Tourism Awards for 2018, held last November.

The Australian Tourism Awards are the industry's peak accolades, recognising excellence in tourism each year across 25 categories ranging from cultural tourism to destination marketing.

"This award is symbolic of the Gold Coast thinking outside the box, I don’t think eight years ago anyone would have linked Broadbeach with country music and now it’s a well-known annual pilgrimage for fans all over Australia,” said festival director & acting CEO of Broadbeach Alliance, Mark Duckworth.

"The team worked so hard to make this festival work and we couldn’t be happier.”

The free festival was formerly known as Broadbeach Country Music Festival, but changed its name to Groundwater in 2017 in an effort to widen its demographic.

The 2020 edition of the festival will be headlined by Shannon Noll and Kasey Chambers, with the lineup recently announced, and 110 live music performances from nearly 50 acts to take place on 15 stages across three days.

For the full lineup, accommodation options and more, head to the official Groundwater Music Festival website.