The announcement that Cairns will host Tourism Australia’s mega event G’Day Australia bringing more than 300 Aussie Specialists into our region in October is exciting news that will assist with the destination’s international recovery.
The internationally recognised familiarisation and workshop event will be delivered by Tourism Australia in partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland and supported by Tourism Tropical North Queensland at the Cairns Convention Centre on 9-12 October.
G’Day Australia replaces Corroboree which previously had separate events for Eastern and Western markets. This is the first time the event has been held since 2019 and the first time both markets have been combined.
As a showcase event for Destination Australia, G’Day Australia will provide the Australian tourism industry with the opportunity to educate qualified Aussie Specialist travel agents from North America, UK, Europe, Asia and New Zealand who will undertake pre and post famils to boost their knowledge of the destination.
Hosting the first G’Day Australia event in Cairns is a recognition of the destination’s strong international appeal. Importantly, it will help with our international aviation recovery to drive demand for future flights which traditionally rely on two-thirds visitor volume.
The announcement of G’Day Australia was made after TTNQ joined TEQ and Virgin Australia in Tokyo to launch the sale of tickets on the first direct flights from Haneda Airport to Cairns.
Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe and Cairns Airport CEO Richard Barker were part of the launch event at the Australian Embassy where we were given the opportunity to promote Cairns & Great Barrier Reef to trade partners and the Japanese media.
Following the launch, trade and airline partners including ANA, HIS, Adventure and AirTrip began taking bookings for the Virgin Australia flights which will be daily from 28 June.
TTNQ Asia Marketing Manager Sam Sakamoto worked with TEQ and Virgin Australia to run a trade seminar in Tokyo and another in Osaka where we worked with Jetstar.
Sam, Richard and I also attended a Trade Investment Queensland and Study Queensland event talking to education agents, universities and Japanese government officials about Cairns & Great Barrier Reef being the ideal place to study and play.
Closer to home, Western Marketing Manager Claudia McFadden is in New Zealand with our operators as part of a TEQ mission meeting with trade partners and an extensive list of travel media who will be wowed by a cooking class with Nick Holloway from Nu Nu restaurant in Palm Cove.
With our international visitor volume sitting at just 20 per cent we have a long way to go to reclaim our important international visitor spend, but these activities over the past few weeks are a huge step in the right direction.
Cheers,
Mark Olsen
Chief Executive Officer