Times are tough but hang in there
THE AGENTS WERE SO EXCITED TO BE LEARNING ABOUT OUR REGION AND PRODUCTS, THE OPERATORS WERE EXCITED TO BE OUT DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST ...
20
THIS note is probably one of the hardest I have had to write.
We still don’t have a secure corridor for returning international students, the government did not come through with a viable JobKeeper package, we do not have secured funding confirmed from Cairns Regional Council or Study Queensland past June 2021 and many of us are reconsidering the viability of our businesses based on the uncertainty of our sector for potentially another 12 months.
However, I urge all of you to remain positive. We are all still here because we have built a normally incredibly resilient and successful industry and I feel confident business will boom for our region once the borders open.
Our recovery plan has put solid actions in place to ensure we are at the front of agents/ students minds when considering where to study in the future.
While the trans-Tasman bubble will be a welcome relief for our tourism operators, we all understand it will have little to no impact for international education.
Congratulations to both our universities for securing land for their future projects, CQU for their campus infrastructure and JCU for their University Hospital.
A huge congratulations also to TAFE Queensland in Cairns for being named as the successful training contractor for the Pacific Maritime Training Services (PMTS) program.
Last month we hosted an incredible edutourism famil for nine agents thanks to the amazing support of Tourism and Events Queensland.
It was the first famil for 12 months in Queensland and the atmosphere for the whole week was electric.
The agents were so excited to be learning about our region and products, the operators were excited to be out doing what they do best and business was instantly secured.
I was exceptionally proud to collaboratively showcase the region and the feedback from all agents has been brilliant.
We are also launching an exciting alumni campaign that has been in the pipeline preCOVID.