24 April 2008

FROM THE CEO'S DESK

A week ago Saturday, I returned from a very successful nine city, 12-day European, UK and Ireland “Change your Latitude” road show for Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef region. Sunday we helped host 71 Japanese travel agents and on Monday I happily welcomed 150 TTNQ members to our networking function.

I then innocently rocked up to work on Tuesday morning to receive a phone call from the Tourism Minister’s office advising of the Cairns Airport sale announcement, which certainly threw me off my chair. An incredible piece of political magic was used to provide the community with a much needed new hospital, but this requires selling off one of our prized assets to fund it.

The announcement however has left many of us shell-shocked. There is no doubt the hospital is needed and the question of private or public ownership of the airport has been in the marketplace long before my arrival into Cairns three years ago. The future now depends upon the new airport owners’ and governments commitment to the destination and how they interact with the community, as we are all very important ingredients in this future partnership.

It is this sort of productive partnership that TTNQ has had with CPA over many years, and it has worked well. They have been true corporate citizens, providing funding to many community projects as well as destination marketing funds, which no other airport does in its capacity except for Newcastle, which is also locally owned. So the CPA are a special breed and an organization that has made decisions based on the community good as well as commercial good.

Interestingly enough, as this was unfolding at home, TTNQ and CPA representatives were in Macau attending the Asia Routes Congress where productive meetings regarding services to the Cairns Airport as a key destination were underway.

Therefore, we will continue with business as usual so we don’t lose any of our momentum that certainly has been a characteristic of CPA CEO Neil Quinn and his team in chasing business for Cairns. We as an organization need to ensure the destination marketing funds that were provided to stimulate business is maintained by government so as to maximize the opportunities for our $2.4 billion tourism industry, important GST receipts that can’t be lost.

On behalf of the tourism industry, I wish to thank the Cairns Port Authority for their support in marketing our destination and wish them all the very best during this transitional period.

I’m happy to report another partnership for TTNQ has been formed with the Superyacht Group.  This is a great opportunity for a strategic alliance with a growing and important segment of our valued visitor market. Opportunities exist to provide a high level of exposure and recognition of our Brand's premium value as a destination. This is part of our overall cruise ship strategy that is being developed.

I’ve also recently met with Tourism Australia and Pacific Asia Travel Association in preparation for the PATA CEO forum. This form will give me the opportunity to meet with airline CEO's and other industry leaders.  Although the agenda covers all aspects of travel and tourism, including climate change, I will be investigating opportunities of growth in this important Asian market.
 
I know many of you have had a difficult few months after a lean year but there is some positive news on the horizon, with extra seats coming into Cairns which are mentioned within this newsletter, domestically and from New Zealand, which should give us some confidence for the coming season.  Generally, things are very flat domestically yet we can't stop the work we are doing to encourage awareness of our destination. 

I’d just like to remind all members this newsletter is provided to inform members of the many activities we provide opportunities for.  I urge members to avail themselves of this as well as our corporate website.  Its marketing calendar gives you a good understanding of what is coming up and planned.  We receive criticism that is sometimes warranted but other times not, simply because members have not read information we have provided.
I urge you in these tight times to take this opportunity.  Its only a few minutes of your day.

I'm sure I'll see many of our industry representatives at ATEC next week, again another opportunity to profile our region and I'll be presenting a paper on Friday morning on partnerships and regional tourism. Again, May will be an incredibly busy period with media and agents from around the world participating in an unprecedented number of famils for our region, also included in this newsletter.  Better days are ahead!

Rob Giason Chief Executive Officer

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THE LATEST NEWS

MORE SEATS FROM NEW ZEALAND TO CAIRNS

Cairns Ports and TTNQ are pleased to announce the addition of 158 seats per week coming from Auckland to Cairns on Air New Zealand.  The increase will occur during the July to October period.

TTNQ NEW BOARD MEMBER ANNOUNCED
Tourism Tropical North Queensland has announced the latest addition to its Board of Directors is well known tourism identity Bram Collins of Undara Experience. 
TTNQ Chairman, Stephen Olle, welcomed Mr Collins to the Board as a very experienced tourism operator in Tropical North Queensland.
“Mr Collins will replace Hamish Haslop as our appointed Outback/Remote Area Director, after Mr Haslop’s resignation from the Board due to other commitments
“Bram’s experience with Undara Experience is a shining example of the potential for successful tourism operations in the outback/remote areas of Tropical North Queensland. He also works tirelessly to build tourism profile of the Cooktown and Cape York region.” Mr Olle said.
In addition to his domestic and international marketing activities for Undara, Bram is an active member of the Savannah Guides having served on their board for nine years as both President and Secretary.

ASIA ROUTES CONFERENCE IN MACAU

Representatives from more than 20 international airlines met with Cairns Airport and TTNQ this week as part of the Asian Routes Forum held in Macau.  The annual event is a high profile opportunity for Asia-Pacific airports to pitch their case to attract new air routes from the region's major carriers.
 
In addition to meeting with Cairns' existing carriers - including Air Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Blue - the TNQ team held back-to-back negotiations with airlines from China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, India and Indonesia.
 
TTNQ's Director of Strategy and New Markets, David Rose said this year's Routes Forum was perhaps the most successful to date, especially for Cairns.
 
"Our argument is certainly being taken very seriously, and the rapid increase in Chinese visitation to Tropical North Queensland is attracting a lot of attention.
 
"Securing new air service takes a great deal of effort and time - typically up to five years from initial interest to touch down. Patience and perseverance are essential to a successful outcome, but there is no doubt we are making significant progress."
 
David also thanked the strong support provided by Tourism Australia's Aviation specialist, Karl Flowers, along with Tourism Queensland's Aviation Director, Andrew Parle.

CHANGE YOUR LATITUDE UK/EUROPE ROADSHOW

10 TNQ product hit the road with the TTNQ team, Rob Giason, Sharyn Brydon and in-market representative Rhett Lego visiting 9 Cities – 7 Countries – 10 Days.  The Roadshow format included a series of Wholesaler Product & Senior Manager Luncheons, training of Wholesaler and Travel Agents in a workshops environment, all culminating with evening drinks and the occasional late night.

The “Tropical Road Warriors” as the team were christened, networked with over 400 industry and media in London, Manchester, Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Milan, Munich and Frankfurt.  The response for the event from the UK/Europe Travel industry was extremely positive with many of the Warriors receiving request for additional information, thank you notes and even bookings whilst still on the road. 

DOMESTIC MARKETING UPDATE

The 2008 Domestic ‘Change Your Latitude’ campaign is in market and the campaign began on the weekend and is running nationally with print, television and outdoor advertising encouraging consumers to purchase a TNQ holiday made available through seven key travel agency chains. We have been advised by Sunlover that bookings have been very strong, with 34 local members participated in the aggressive tactical campaign that is in play.

Consumers in the key markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane continue to be targeted with great tropical holiday offers as part of the www.changeyourlatitude.com.au campaign including offers made from Blue Holidays (v-mail below) and through www.news.com.au/travel.

KOREA UPDATE

Elizabeth Webb, along with TNQ operators recently returned from Korea.  The week long mission included meetings wholesalers and retail agencies that include Cairns & Great Barrier Reef region in their Australian itineraries.

This trip is also a lead up to the forthcoming Korean Air charter services, which are scheduled to commence 18 July 2008.  Activities being conducted in Seoul include a TTNQ Korea Sales Mission with two departures (April and May), the support from participating members is outstanding – 4 operators on the April departure, with 8 operators travelling in May.

The region will also be represented at the Hana Tour Convention, which is a trade expo being held in May.  We are pleased to also advise a range of educationals being conducted in the next coming weeks from our Korean trade partners – media and travel industry.

One prominent marketing partner for the promotion of the Korean Air charters, is Samsung Credit Card, but this promotion will continue till October/November at least.  Providing our region with longer exposure in Korea, the region and participating operators will be hosting 26 passengers including 20 pax - blog specialists, 2 Samsung Card specialists, 1 Samsung PR Agency Representative, 1 camera man/photographer and 2 x TQ Escorts.

TTNQ MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS 
 The financial year is rapidly drawing to a close & with it comes our annual membership renewal period. You will receive your Membership Renewal kit in due course and will note that, after much deliberation, TTNQ has decided to institute a 3% CPI increase on the 07/08 membership fees. Should you have any queries regarding your membership please do not hesitate to contact TTNQ’s Membership Development Executive, Niaomi McSwiney on 4015 1208 or niaomi.mcswiney@tnq.org.au Please note that Niaomi will be on annual leave between 2-25 May but will be happy to discuss your queries before or after that period.

MEMBER FEEDBACK WELCOME
As a membership organisation we value your feedback & suggestions.  Please click here to view our updated feedback/suggestion form on TTNQ’s corporate website: www.tropicalaustralia.com.au/corporate

JAPAN CONTINENTAL AIRLINES MEDIA FAMIL

A mix of 21 Media representatives from Fukuoka, Hiroshima and Sendai visited Cairns from 17 – 21 April following the regional media luncheons that were held in each city as part of a TQ, TTNQ and Continental Airlines combined marketing strategy. .

Continental is doing a campaign out of western Japan regional cities (these regional cities are ones that Jetstar or Qantas do not have services to Australia from) in an endeavour to increase awareness and visitation by Japanese tourists to Cairns via Guam.

TTNQ’s Haruhiko (Harry) Niihori and Lisa Monks, along with TQ Japan’s Paul Summers coordinated this famil with Continental’s Koji Nagata (Director of Corporate Communications – Asia/Pacific) and Hitomi Yamamoto (Regional Sales Manager – Kyushu)

The activities included trips to Cairns, Kuranda (rail & Skyrail), Palm Cove, spa experiences, Tjapukai By Night, Hot Air Ballooning, Blazing Saddles, Ocean Spirit Night Cruise, and GBR Reef Experiences.

DERTOUR MEGA FAMIL COMING SOON
Approx. 140 qualified participants of active counter staff (selected from over 10,500 travel agencies in Germany/Austria) with at least two years of active counter experience have been invited to this year’s DERTOUR destination special.
Established in 1917, DERTOUR is one of the largest German tour operators and, as part of the REWE Group´s Travel Division, the largest wholesaler for long haul destinations.  Additionally, DERTOUR is market leader for touring to Australia and offers a wide range of individually combinable travel modules which enable completely individual travel planning.  Invitations were only extended to agencies with high turnover and/or further potential for the hosting destination.

ANOTHER MAJOR CONFERENCE FOR TNQ

The Cairns and Region Convention Bureau (CRCB) is pleased to announce another major conference is to be held in Tropical North Queensland.

Representatives of the Independent Grocers Association (IGA) of Victoria will hold their annual conference and State awards ceremony in Port Douglas over six days in April 2009.

The group is working with conference organiser Lea Cooper of Pro Team Management, who has previously brought two conferences for another supermarket group, FoodWorks, to Tropical North Queensland. FoodWorks held previous conferences in Palm Cove and Cairns and Pro Team Management will now work with the IGA group to experience Port Douglas.

CARNIVALE IN THE MEDIA

The Port Douglas and Daintree region recently hosted a major Carnivale media famil designed to generate pre-event coverage and spark interest in visitation during the traditional shoulder season which co-incides with the Reef & Rainforest Carnivale.

Media representatives from the Canberra Times, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mail, Sun Herald, Sunday Star Times, Holidays for Couples, Holidays for Kids, Gourmet Traveller, Australian Traveller and City Life and Cairns Eye magazine were all treated to a preview of the region’s premier lifestyle event. 

The media visit was co-sponsored by Tourism Tropical North Queensland and PDDT.   TTNQ’s director of marketing communications Dion Eades said the famil would raise awarness of Carnivale.  “The visiting media’s story articles will run in the weeks leading up to Reef & Rainforest Carnivale and generate enquiries for the event,” he said.   For more info on Reef & Rainforest Carnivale visit www.carnivale.com.au

AIRPORT AMBASSADOR UPDATE

The Airport Ambassadors were all smiles at the recent TTNQ Networking function, held 14 April.  Here Janet and Margaret happily pose with Member for Leichardt Jim Turnour.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
 
Waterfarms Australia
www.waterfarms.com.au
Water Bottling company based in Babinda (North Queensland) specialising in the filling, bottling and distribution of P.E.T water bottles from 250ml to 10litres.
 
Respax
www.respax.com.au
Trinity software developed the tour reservation system Respax. Respax is a full inhouse, internet enabler tour management system. Respax is the most widely used reservations system in TNQ, operators using the system include; Tropic Wings, Great Adventures, Big Cat, Ocean Spirit, Reef Magic & more. 
 
Holborne Australasia Pty Ltd
www.holborne.com.au
Holborne Australasia Pty Ltd is Australia’s premier tourism entertainment distributor with over 13 years in the tourism/souvenir industry. We produce and distribute and extensive catalogue of original Australian and international CDs, DVDs, posters and postcards.
Holborne has established a tourism-targeted retail sales network & support system that is admired by our retail partners for producing innovative & effective retail sales solutions.
We have over 1,000 interactive CD & DVD display units placed across a diverse array of retail outlets in all tourist districts / regions across Australia.  
 
Ticketmates Australia
www.ticketmates.com
TicketMatesAustralia.comTM is an Australian owned and operated company that was introduced to the Gold Coast tourism market in 2004, as an on-line ticketing solution for agents and accommodation building managers.
TicketMatesAustralia.comTMoffers an aggregation of small and large tourism based operators the opportunity to promote their product through the website, targeting a vast portion of the tourism market.

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IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS

TQ ECOTOURISM AUSTRALIA ECO CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP
1:00 – 4:30pm Monday 21 April 2008, Mantra Treetops Resort & Spa Port Douglas
Tourism Queensland (TQ) invites operators involved in nature-based and/or ecotourism activities to participate in a regional ‘round table discussion’. Click here for more information and Registration Form.

RESEARCH & INSIGHTS FORUM
Date Claimer: Thursday 15 May – Research & Insight Forum:
TTNQ and James Cook University will be hosting a Research & Insights Forum on the morning of Thursday 15 May 2008, to be held at the Sofitel Reef Casino in the Michaelmas Cay Ballroom with presentations from TTNQ on the latest IVS and NVS releases (YEDec07), JCU will be presenting on results from the last 12 months of surveys they have undertaken in the region, along with a presentation on Food & Wine Tourism.  Jane Mallam from Tourism Queensland will also be presenting on a product channel distribution study results overview and the planned European segmentation study (France Italy Sweden). A formal invitation will be sent out in the next week or so, so watch this space!

CELEBRATING THE 10th TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND TOURISM AWARDS
Tourism Tropical North Queensland is pleased to announce the 10th Tropical North Queensland Tourism Awards will be held at the Cairns Convention Centre on Saturday 11th October 2008. The TNQ Tourism Awards program was launched at the TTNQ Networking Function on Monday 14 April and TTNQ welcomes back Claudia McFadden to assist with coordinating this year’s event.

BREAKFAST WITH HON CHRIS EVANS MP
Jim Turnour MP, Federal Member for Leichhardt invites you to breakfast with Senator the Hon Chris Evans MP Leader of the Government in the Senate & Minister for Immigration and Citizenship

Don’t miss this important opportunity to learn about government’s immigration policy review. Discussion will include Labor’s approach to skilled migration. Click here for more information.

UPCOMING FAMILS
Korea Marie Claire 9pax- 22nd April – 27th April
Korea CX Agent Study Tour Famil 19 pax- 22nd April – 25th April
Korea Noblesse Magazine Media Famil – 27 April – 1 May
Germany DerTours 150 pax- 30th April – 10th May

BEHIND THE SCENES

• CRCB held an AIME 2008 meeting which served as a debrief of the February event. Some exciting suggestions were discussed with participants for next year’s exhibition.
• CRCB continue to plan for a CiEvents corporate famil in mid-May and a Virgin Blue supported Mice.net famil later in the year.
• Niaomi McSwiney and Carl Marchant recently attended ADTW training in Brisbane to assist with basic updates when extra resource required.
• Karen Doane helped host Huell Howser during his two week filming of TNQ for his two one-hour Australia specials for the California market.
• TTNQ’s Western Markets team is putting the final touches on the 150+ Der Tour agent famil, which takes place 3 – 8 May.
• Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Andrea Fogarty, traveled to Brisbane and Austrade for an EMDG workshop.
• TTNQ have been doing a dive campaign with Scuba Diving Magazine in the US for the last 18 months. To see the results, visit: www.scubadiving.com/travel/pacificandindianoceans/australia/queensland
• Donna Gray and Tamara Stewart attended this year’s Camping and Caravan Holiday Show in Sydney and Melbourne.  Donna then heads over to New Zealand for OZTalk until 1 May.
• Sharyn Brydon and Elizabeth Webb will be attending the ATEC Symposium (Newcastle) next week along with Rob who is presenting on Friday.

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SEEN IN THE MEDIA

• Vote for one of TNQ’s nominated properties in Australian Gourmet Traveller magazines contest for “Best Of” in their Travel section. Nominated as finalists are: Angsana Spa & Resort, Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa, Tjapukai and Lizard Island.  Go to: www.gourmettraveller.com.au and place your vote today!
• Christina Pfeiffer’s trip last year in the Sun Herald, Sydney Morning Herald (which also ran in The Age), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and The Courier Mail 
• And I’m sure you’ve seen the great coverage that’s been coming out of Narelle Bouveng and Lizzie Loel’s recent visit to the region (AAP publications, Brisbane News, Courier Mail, Sunday Mail and B MAG have all run stories from the visit).
• Freelance journalist Cathy Finch also went to TNQ for an adventure themed famil at the end of last month – she’s had one story in the Gladstone Observer and will have other publications (including the Sunday Mail) coming out soon.
• Freelance journalist Liz Johnston also went to TNQ from March 12 – 15. Her story on the Cairns Highlands has run in The Sunday Mail and she will also write another story for Brisbane News.
• Coverage of the TTNQ Cairns Backpacker Famil was highlighted in The Cairns Post and on Channel Seven Local News. Click the play button on the below video to watch the footage. (may take a minute to play)

TTNQ now brings you our monthly Industry Info e-newsletter full of news from our members and industry. Click here to see the previous edition and watch for the next one coming to your inbox soon.

If you have a good news story or have achieved a recent success please send your information to Karen Doane.

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