TTNQ CEO Mark Olsen has returned from a successful Queensland Mission to China led by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and coinciding with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s China visit. Having the Prime Minister and the Queensland Premier in China helped to elevate the significance of the Queensland trade mission.
Tourism and Events Queensland’s launch of ‘A Beautiful Way To Be’ campaign was well received and works well with the Cairns & Great Barrier Reef brand as it is about those transformational moments beyond a travel bucket list that provide meaningful experiences.
During the trip, TTNQ launched the Cairns & Great Barrier Reef partnership with Trip.com which includes a live streaming promotion via WeChat in China featuring more than 50 Tropical North Queensland products. This partnership is through China’s largest online travel agent Ctrip, which has more than 90 million users.
The delegation’s meetings with the tourism trade and media were very positive with strong interest in Cairns and the Gold Coast. The greatest challenge is cost as there are other destinations that are doing cut price deals on trips that highlight shopping. For example, 13 nights in Europe is nearly half the price of 10 days to Tropical North Queensland.
[China Mission a Qld success – TTNQ Fortnightly Pulse – 15 November 2023]