Mary Valley Rattler secures Travellers’ Choice Award

Gympie’s popular tourism attraction, the Mary Valley Rattler heritage steam train, has been named a Travellers’ Choice Award Winner by Tripadvisor - the world’s largest travel platform - for consistently delivering outstanding experiences to travellers.

Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer at Tripadvisor congratulated all the winners of the 2021 Travellers’ Choice Awards including the Mary Valley Rattler for being rated in the top 10% of worldwide attractions by its members.

Soni noted “I know the past year has been extremely challenging for tourism businesses. What has impressed me is how businesses adapted to these challenges, implementing new cleanliness measures, adding social distancing guidelines, and utilising technology to prioritise guest safety.

“The Travellers’ Choice Awards highlight the places that are consistently excellent - delivering quality experiences time and time again even while navigating changing customer expectations and new ways of working. Based on a full year of reviews from customers, this award speaks to the great service and experience you provided guests in the midst of a pandemic.”

General Manager of the Mary Valley Rattler, Micheal Green, said that the prestigious award was a great ‘birthday present’ for the railway’s 140th anniversary, which will be celebrated this Saturday.

Green adds “It’s a great way to commemorate such a landmark.

“As a community-based organisation, the positive response by passengers to the experience is a fantastic endorsement of the commitment by our volunteers and team members, especially given all the challenges caused by the COVID pandemic.

“There’s nothing we can do about service disruptions caused by lockdowns and closed borders, but when the Rattler is able to operate our goal is to deliver an exceptional experience – and this Award is very motivating.

“Despite being a heritage railway, steeped in history, we are continually innovating by introducing new services and facilities such as our special access carriage, our ‘Pets On-board’ option for passengers who want to bring their pets , and the upcoming inaugural Murder on the Rattler Express.

“We also continually engage with the local community via our volunteers and through events such as the upcoming free “Meet the Fleet” open day to celebrate the 140th anniversary of rail connecting the Gympie & Maryborough communities.

Image top: Pets on Board - Detection Dogs for Conservation - Maya and Bear - wait for Mary Valley Rattler service; image above welcome aboard Mary Valley Rattler