Cairns Adventure Group begins construction of new depot
A Cairns adventure company is breaking new ground with its latest investment, as international travel heats back up. Read how they plan to welcome droves of tourist back.
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A Cairns adventure company is breaking new ground with its latest investment, as international travel heats back up.
Cairns Adventure Group will start construction on a new depot and office for their rafting, tubing and rainforest tours, which will expand with the addition of five new buses.
The $3m investment signals confidence in the Tropical North Queensland tourism industry, off the back of the federal government’s $15.1m three-year investment in the recovery of international tourism markets.
Co-owner of the adventure group, Roderic Rees, was optimistic about the future of his industry as international markets open up further.
“It’s a massive boost for our business, we are feeling really confident that international tourism is going to return,” Mr Rees said.
“On the back of the federal governments $15m funding to recover those international markets, we feel the time is now to get ready.
“We know it’s going to be a few years to build that back up, but we are super excited about this great new space and investing in the town that I love so dearly and that all our staff love.”
The new depot, expected to be completed in February, will be the operational base for all of their rafting, tubing, and rainforest tours, as well as housing their new fleet of buses, and as a centre for staff training.
“We want to show that confidence to the industry and the town that we are here to stay and are ready to hit the ground running once the international guests come back in big numbers,” Mr Rees said.
“We feel really confident that people will be coming back to this area in droves.”
Government and industry leaders welcomed the courage it takes to reinvest business money into securing a greater future for the tourism industry and the region.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen said the new investment was a sign of things to come with a recovering industry.
“This is a big step forward, a significant investment from an individual business to make that step to secure the international market,” Mr Olsen said.
“Visitors can be off an international flight and into the rainforest within a couple hours because of the quality of a business like this.
“We are pleased to see that at this early stage with only 24% of our international market back so far, that the tourism industry know that now is the time to lean in and really grow that back.”
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch echoed the sentiment of investment now being key to success in the future.
“What we have identified is that people don’t want to see the same old business they want to revitalise, rebuild and see new products,” Mr Entsch said.
“This is what is happening today, Cairns Adventure Group has the courage supported by the federal government to put some money into this here.
“They are building this in the anticipation of the weight work TTNQ is going to do bringing internationals back in.”
Mayor Bob Manning agreed that with the re-emergence of international markets visible through the return of direct routes to Japan next year will drive greater confidence in the region.
“Its great to see people taking a step forward being among the first to reinvest, it always takes courage to go out and lead investment because the risks are sometimes greater, Mayor Manning said.
“The industry will note this, it is a real mark of confidence, people will begin to start to take confidence from other people.
“We will back the tourism industry as far as we can we will continue to push for a tourism levy.”
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Originally published as Cairns Adventure Group begins construction of new depot
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