Tourism Tropical North Queensland is confident new air services will see growth in domestic visitation in 2013 after a “very modest” 2012.
Chief executive Rob Giason told Travel Today that Tropical North Queensland’s tourism industry is much more dependent on air access than many other Australian destinations.
“Most of the people that visit this destination fly – we’re not a destination to just hop in a car and travel to,” he said. “We’re different to the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast which have Brisbane’s four or five million people to draw from.”
In 2012, TTNQ saw domestic visitors to the region rise 1% on the previous year.
“But we’re anticipating a better result than that this year,” Giason said, forecasting growth of 3-4%. “We particularly expect growth in the interstate segment which relates strongly to increased aviation capacity.”
He described the start of Tiger Australia’s Sydney-Cairns service this week as “manna from heaven” for the state, expecting the “affordable” flights to draw more people..
A further boost will come when Tiger goes double daily between Melbourne and Cairns between June and October, he added
The tourism body will undertake joint marketing initiatives with Tiger and has struck relationships with the National Rugby League and Australian Football League to grow opportunities by hosting games in the area.
“We’re going to the audience with a whole range of media mixes and online activities,” Giason said.
Travel agents will also continue to be a key focus for the state. TTNQ participated in a series of roadshows just before Christmas in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and will undertake tactical promotions over the coming months.
“We’re working with the trade continually,” Giason said.
“We need to keep all of the channels working to suit the customers’ needs because, at the end of the day, the customer will choose how they will connect and what we’ve got to do is provide them with every option.”
