City hotels get bronze

Gold Coast and Darwin in front

CHINESE tourism fell by more than 7 per cent, US visitors jumped by almost 10 per cent, domestic visitors grew, while international numbers fell.

By the numbers, 2018 was a year of mixed fortunes for the Far North and ended on a low with December figures showing a 6.7 per cent drop in hotel room demand compared with the previous year.

After four years as the country’s best performing hotel market, Cairns slipped back to third behind Darwin, which ran a strong campaign encouraging longer stays, and the Gold Coast, on the back of the Commonwealth Games.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said the region had been battling a serious loss in confidence in the past two years with the coral bleaching events and “Great Barrier Reef bashing” and that needed to change.

“If someone tells you enough times that you’re ugly you start to believe it,” he said.

“We need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back into the market.”

Based on Tourism Research Australia figures, the Far North remains on track for a 2020 target of $3.5 billion in tourism expenditure.

The region remains well regarded as an outdoor activity hub during the winter months and for the variety of quality tour companies available.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Pip Close said the Tourism Sentiment Index, based on online conversations from around the world over the previous three years, showed there was work to be done.

But she said the destination ranked well for breweries, distilleries and cocktail bars.

“The report suggested we needed to work harder to create online chatter about restaurants, accommodation and frontline staff,” she said.

“Since the report came out we have seen a flurry of activity on the restaurant scene and the city’s first new hotel in many years, Riley, open.

“TTNQ has amped up Tropical North Queensland’s food story to assist in creating more online conversations about our restaurants, tropical produce and unique local ingredients.

“Frontline staff are the face of our industry and therefore play an enormous role in what people think of the destination.

“We are often praised for the friendly, welcoming nature of our community, but maybe we need to see more of those warm, smiling faces on social media.”

Airbnb hosts about 115,110 guests in Cairns each year which is not counted as part of hotel stays and would attribute for some of the drop.

The Shangri-La also underwent a refurbishment last year, meaning 200 hotel rooms were not available while work was carried out.