TTNQ focus on international travel as region braces for quiet green season
The Far North has an “enormous amount of work to do” to entice international visitors back to the region ahead of a predicted “very tough” period domestically.
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FAR north tourism leaders will hatch a marketing campaign to attract short stay domestic visitors to the region in a bid to offset a “very tough” few months for the crippled industry.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland Chief Executive Officer Mark Olsen said while forward bookings for April and June were healthy, Cairns and Port Douglas were in for a battle for the rest of the green season until the Easter holiday rush.
It comes amid a $40 million push to activate aviation connections to the city for the lucrative European and Asian markets ahead of the reopening of international travel.
“Our domestic summer campaign is active and we will soon launch more activity to encourage short breaks in February and March as well as an autumn campaign,” Mr Olsen said.
“TTNQ has been ramping up the destination’s presence through publicity and trade engagement in key markets in Europe and Japan, and in the short-term in New Zealand.
“Our sales and marketing managers for the Western and Asian markets have returned from in-market trips to identify the obstacles to travel to our region.”
Mr Olsen conceded the region had an “enormous amount of work to do” in the international space before it could begin to enjoy the $1 billion success that decades of in-market toil achieved.
Returning international travel to pre-pandemic levels will be a “four-to-five-year endeavour” without continued government support, and addressing the critical staff shortage among the hospitality sector was a top priority.
“Much has changed while borders have been closed,” he said.
“Before we open further, we need a workforce and have launched activity in the Working Holiday Maker market to ensure we align with and leverage Tourism Australia and Tourism and Events Queensland’s campaigns.”
TTNQ will lobby for $40 million over three years ahead of the federal election to maintain a strong presence domestically and to drive a share of international visitation through aviation and support.
Mr Olsen said the Far North’s overseas operators, who have basically gone without an income for more than two years, needed backing to travel overseas and re-engage with international markets.
“These funds would help the region secure more affordable direct aviation connections, support industry to have a stronger in-market presence to secure our region’s market share, and help us to maintain our strong position in the domestic market,” he said.
“Ken (Chapman) and I had a positive meeting with the Prime Minister when he was in Cairns last week and are confident he understands the importance of tourism to the national economy.
“We will be meeting with various Federal Ministers this month to further push our case to rebuild the tourism industry’s capacity to once again be an economic driver for Australia.”
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Originally published as TTNQ focus on international travel as region braces for quiet green season
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