We have a strong story to tell

AN innovative tourism partnership was formed 43 years ago with the creation of the Far North Queensland Promotion Bureau to promote the region to Australian and international travellers.

With a reputation as the black marlin capital of Australia thanks to regular visits by celebrities like Lee Marvin, the Great Barrier Reef was the primary focus.

That focus quickly grew to include the destination’s varied regions and resulted in one of the world’s great tourism success stories.

The Tropical North Queensland tourism industry now directly supports 16,000 jobs and welcomes nearly 3 million overnight visitors with one in 10 of Australia’s international visitors coming to our destination.

Success came from innovation with world-leading experiences and products inspiring the world to travel to Australia, and by respecting our environment where we raised the bar for global eco-tourism.

Our tourism offering enabled people to explore nature at its best with the world falling in love with the reef and the rainforest that defines our destination.

Our success was further enhanced by a strong industry partnership founded on the simple principle of promoting the destination first and aligning the products and experiences under the destination brand to give the region its share of voice.

Over the past decade the destination has been challenged by increasing competition from destinations with substantially larger budgets.

Visitor numbers grew by seven per cent per annum, however, the region lost four per cent of its national market share.

This means we have lost $1.2 billion in visitor expenditure over the past three years.

The domestic market has been the region’s top performer over the past three years increasing from 55 per cent to 70 per cent of visitor nights.

International visitor nights have grown just two per cent with the major shift coming from the China market where visitor nights grew from just two per cent of international visitor nights to 14 per cent.

The USA is steady at nine per cent, while other traditional markets have lost nights as a result of slowing economies and challenges like aviation access and negative perceptions about the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

The United Kingdom is down from 18 per cent to 10 per cent, Japan down from 10 per cent to eight per cent and Europe down from 38 per cent to 24 per cent.

The future for the region hinges around our ability to adapt to changing visitor needs globally.

The current coronavirus outbreak has impacted China’s group travel market, emphasising the need to appeal to the growing number of independent travellers influenced by what is fashionable in travel.

In Europe and the UK, over-tourism and flight-shaming are the buzzwords used by a travelling public concerned about the environment and how global travel impacts on it.

We have a strong story to tell about sustainable tourism being a part of the ethos of our destination.

In addition to these many challenges, each of our key markets is increasingly the focus of dedicated and well-funded marketing campaigns from exotic new destinations and cheap places that are easy to get to.

The Cairns and Great Barrier Reef tourism industry has lost core marketing funds while our competitors have increased their budgets two-fold over the past decade.

The region has achieved its goal of $3.5 billion visitor expenditure in 2020, but survival in this new decade means we must again become a global leader.

Our opportunity lies in moving beyond eco-tourism to leading the world in responsible tourism.

We need to ensure our tourism offering is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable and that it offers the customer a role in protecting the values that define our destination.

Growing social awareness has bred the high-value traveller, those who believe travel is a privilege and not a boxticking exercise.

They happily pay more to travel to destinations that fulfil their belief in responsible travel.

We have the assets – two World Heritage areas and the world’s oldest living culture.

Opportunities like citizen science, active conservation, and acceptable levels of tourism in a community go hand-in-hand with these.

Responsible, rather than rapid, growth is the future for Tropical North Queensland.

With the support of the whole community across all industries, this will be the key to a thriving visitor economy anchored by a globally respected tourism destination.

THE FUTURE FOR THE REGION HINGES AROUND OUR ABILITY TO ADAPT TO CHANGING VISITOR NEEDS GLOBALLY