Ancient Stories of Our Land by Jedess & David Hudson

CEO-Board Updates

May 2018 CEO Update

TTNQ has been travelling throughout the region this month as we familiarise ourselves with the people, product and places that are part of the Tropical North Queensland tourism story and learn what the opportunities are for our regional areas.

Last week I was joined by key marketing team members and two representatives from Go Fish Australia visiting Normanton, Burketown, Sweers Island, Karumba, Georgetown, Cobbold Gorge and Forsayth to discover more about fishing experiences and the amazing outback stories to be told as part of our cluster work. I must say a special congratulations to the team at Sweers Island who received a Royal Flying Doctor Award for resuscitating a man before the RFDS arrived.

We experienced the tourism offerings, built relationships with the businesses and councils we met, and looked for direction for a tourism fishing strategy. We believe Tropical North Queensland can own fishing as an iconic Australian experience in future and we look forward to seeing Go Fish cover this spectacular region.

Tropical North Queensland truly is the easiest way to see the Outback with an international airport just four hours’ drive from the entry points to this iconic Australian landscape.

The very next day the TTNQ team travelled to Mission Beach to meet Cassowary Coast operators and give them an update on our activities. They heard about current market activity from Japan, Western markets, China and Domestic, and learnt about digital opportunities. The Business Events team offered advice and the Membership Executive took feedback and helped with membership options.

Regional training has also been underway with China Now workshops held in Port Douglas and Atherton. Next month they will be held in Kuranda and Daintree to assist products outside Cairns to tap into the China market.

Next week I will be in Weipa for the Torres and Cape Indigenous Communities Alliance Annual General Meeting to talk about how TTNQ can help tourism in Cape York. TTNQ has offered to keep the Tourism Cape York website up to date, elevate the search engines and assist in printing the next Cape York visitor guide.

Weipa Town Authority, and the Shire Councils of Cook, Carpentaria, Nampranum, Mapoon, Aurukun, Lockhart River, Pormpuraaw, Kowanyama, Hope Vale, Wujal Wujal, Torres, Torres Regional and Mornington Island will all be in attendance. The continued sealing of the Peninsula Development Road is opening up enormous opportunities for Cape York and we need to work together to ensure we make the most of them.

In July I will join some of the TTNQ executive team in Cooktown to give operators an update on our digital direction and regional events. We will have one-on-one meetings as required and meet with Cook Shire Council to hear about their 2020 celebrations and talk about the future of the Local Tourism Organisation in their region.

Tropical North Queensland is a diverse destination and TTNQ is committed to working in partnership with the industry across its full length and breadth to master our story.

Regards
Pip

Pip Close
Chief Executive Officer