A Rarotonga fitness instructor and an Aitutaki lagoon cruise operator have bested more than 100 members of the Cook Islands tourism community to be crowned People's Choice.

The winners of the inaugural Cook Islands People's Choice Awards were announced during the Pacific Partnership for Prosperity Pavilion at the Punanga Nui Market on Tuesday, with CC Tamure Fitness founder Mona Taio triumphant in the individual category and The Vaka Cruise topping the business category.

More than 22,000 votes were cast between the competition's 25 finalists, in a social media campaign hosted by Cook Islands Tourism Corporation.

Taio said she was "overwhelmed" by the number of votes she accrued: 2446, or about 10 per cent of the total cast.

She believed her popularity stemmed from the impact of her fitness club on more than 100 women who had lost weight and "gained confidence" since the club was founded in 2019.

"They've chosen us as their place of comfort," she said.

"The women empower each other, mentally and physically, to do something about their lives."

Taio's exercise classes promoted Cook Islands culture by fusing modern, up-tempo music with traditional dancing and choreography, and instructions in te reo Maori.

"Our plans going forward are to continue inspiring more people. We're focused on women, but we want to introduce classes for men."

Taio said she wanted to share her prize of $1500 worth of activity tours and promotional marketing with the people who "helped me get to where I am" -- namely fitness instructors Uirangi Bishop, Mary Taio, Paige Taio, Viliama George, and Maria Ngatikao.

The Vaka Cruise director and tour guide Ali Maao said his team was "honoured and humbled" to win the competition's business category with 858 votes.

"We're very thankful to the people who voted for us. We're very thankful to our staff for all their hard work," Maao said.

The prize of $3000 worth of marketing -- which included an opportunity to join Cook Islands Tourism at the 2024 Travel and Adventure Consumer Show in the United States of America -- would "help a lot" with showing the North American tourist market and Aitutaki had to offer, he said.

The cruise operator had teamed up with other Aitutaki businesses, such as Tamanu Beach Resort and Aitutaki Adventures, to take a similar promotional campaign to the USA in 2018.

Maao said the cruise had been operating for more than 25 years, beginning with "one small boat" and growing into three -- the third of which debuted on Saturday ahead of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.

Leaders boarded the 27-metre-long Teariki Moana for a retreat on Wednesday, while their delegates piled into the 21-metre-long Titi-Ai-Tonga. The cruise operator's third and smallest boat is Matariki.

Cook Islands Tourism plans to run the People's Choice Awards every year, coinciding with World Tourism Day.

The competition debuted with 600 nominations across 112 nominees, which was whitled down to a top 25 before voting began on social media.