Grant Hunt has been named as the new chair of Sunshine Coast Destination Limited (SCDL) as the tourism body reported record visitation in 2012-13 at its annual general meeting last night.
The number of day trips grew 17.6% over the year, while visitor numbers rose 8.7% to a record 8.9 million. Tourism revenue climbed 15.9% to $2.8 billion.
While leisure travel remained strong, supported by a major focus on events, a mining slowdown in Queensland and national economic uncertainty impacted the business travel and conference sectors.
Hunt, the founder of nature-focused Anthology who also developed the Voyages Hotels and Resorts brand, replaces Barrie Adams.
Outgoing Adams paid tribute to the SCDL team for the strong result in 2012-2013 despite major organisational change and challenging market conditions.
“The priority for the organisation has been to build a strong team and infrastructure to cater for the new world of travel marketing,” Adams said.
“I think we have an excellent new team in place now, and under the leadership of CEO Simon Ambrose, I am confident that the Sunshine Coast has the talent and resources to continue achieving significant increases in domestic and international visitation.”
Meanwhile, Tourism Accommodation Australia welcomed the appointment of Hunt to the chairman role.
“The major entities involved in Sunshine Coast tourism set out to recruit an industry leader with a deep understanding of regional tourism and I don’t think we could have come up with a better choice than Grant Hunt,” TAA managing director Rodger Powell said.
“He has an outstanding record in the business and has all the credentials to help establish the Sunshine Coast as one of Australia’s most dynamic tourism destinations.”
