The Whitsundays’ original and most awarded tour operator, Ocean Rafting, continues to shine gold over the turquoise waters of the Whitsundays after taking home several awards at the 2024 Whitsunday Tourism Awards!
Ocean Rafting celebrated its 28th Birthday in style attending the gala industry Whitsunday Tourism Awards on Daydream Island. The team won gold in the ‘Major Tour & Transport’ and silver in the ‘Adventure Tourism’ categories and was also acknowledged as the Whitsundays’ favourite tourism experiences in the consumer-voted ‘People’s Choice Award Experience’. The wins had the team entering the Hall of Fame, an achievement for three years of gold in the “Major Tour & Transport” category and three years of “People’s Choice Award Experience”.
Peter and Jan Claxton, owners of Ocean Rafting for 28 years, and sons Cole and Kerr Claxton alongside 34 passionate Ocean Rafting staff represented the family owned and operated business at the celebrations.
Kerr, Ocean Rafting’s operations manager, exclaims, “We are fortunate to be able to call the Whitsundays not only our workplace but our home.”
“Tourism is an amazing industry; however, it is a seven-day-a-week operation, and a lot of time and effort is required to ensure operation runs as smoothly as possible. This operation would not be what it is today without a fantastic team to help support and maintain a fantastic product like Ocean Rafting. Therefore, I’d like to shout out to and acknowledge all our crew from accounts to maintenance; everyone plays their unique role to ensure we put smiles on dials.” Said Kerr.
Kerr continued, “I’d also like to thank and acknowledge Tourism Whitsundays, and everyone involved for putting on yet another fantastic Whitsunday Tourism Awards event. It allows us operators to get together and celebrate an incredible industry.”
Three generations of family and almost three decades as one of the Whitsundays’ most loved on-water experiences, Ocean Rafting’s mission is still to treat every day as if it was the one and only day their guests will experience Ocean Rafting and the Whitsundays’; and this has attributed to the company’s long-term success and thriving growth over the years.
Jan Claxton, owner of Ocean Rafting, “Could not be prouder” of the Ocean Rafting Teams efforts at the 2024 awards.
“At Ocean Rafting, we are lucky to have become a three-generational business over the last twenty-eight years,” said Jan.
“Being family-owned and operated allows us to be agile and efficient when making on-the-go decisions. This translates to our team feeling empowered and responsible for their choices, ideas, and actions. Some of the Rafting team have been with us for a long time, and now their youngsters have joined us, completing the Rafting family recipe,” said Jan,
“We also extend a huge thank you and congratulations to Tourism Whitsundays for all their effort in promoting our region and putting on a show like this, and of course, to all the other Whitsunday winners and entrants for being involved in the Whitsunday Tourism Award process.”
This year, Ocean Rafting is not only providing bucket list tours to guests but also playing a major role in the environmental sector by participating in the Tourism Reef Protection Initiative and starting our very own initiative, “Tins 4 Fins,” to fund beach cleans and additional research, ensuring we protect this beautiful part of the world.
