Common goal puts our plans in the fast lane

THE Tourism and Events (TEQ) Queensland European Great Barrier Reef Campaign is just what the local tourism industry needs to promote our greatest asset to high-value travellers.

This is the first time Tourism Tropical North Queensland and our fellow Regional Tourism Organisations that border the Reef have partnered with TEQ in Europe to focus solely on the Great Barrier Reef as an aspirational travel destination.

By working together and pooling funds we are able to leverage partnerships with the airlines (Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir) and Tourism Australia.

This two-year campaign is the largest Great Barrier Reef campaign ever done in the lucrative German-speaking market and we hope it will continue beyond that period.

The Great Barrier Reef is the number one drawcard for European travellers and we need to ensure that earlier negative media saying our World Heritage area is dead does not impact their travel aspirations.

This campaign will increase awareness of the efforts to preserve the Great Barrier Reef and highlight the many different experiences it offers with activities through the tourism trade and media.

The European market has been showing signs of growth for Tropical North Queensland with about 179,000 annual visitors.

Most importantly these visitors stay an average of 9.8 nights, they care about the future of the Great Barrier Reef and are prepared to pay for sustainable travel.

These are the high-value travellers who will ensure Tropical North Queensland has a healthy visitor economy.