More than 30 tourism businesses attended the annual Cook Shire marketing workshop and networking event in Cooktown on January 31. It is the third year of the partnership between Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Cook Shire Council and the Cooktown Chamber of Commerce and Tourism and was a very strong turnout for the annual planning session to drive tourism in the Cook Shire.
Cooktown is undergoing substantial investment in existing product and new tourism experiences including a stunning refurbishment underway for the workshop host venue, the Cooktown Seaview Motel. There is a new focus on creating quality food and dining experiences as well as good quality product that meets the needs of the modern traveller.
The operators are optimistic about a strong winter tourism season and they have had success in attracting high spending visitors outside the traditional busy season with bookings strong through to November.
Boosting shoulder season travel is the key to the future success of tourism in the Cook Shire and three priorities were identified to help drive this.
The first is to create a strong local network for referrals through operators experiencing each other’s products so that they can recommend local businesses.
The second is to build on the photo shoot undertaken last year to get more targeted media coverage in specific publications targeting off-season higher spending travellers in Queensland.
The third is to look at creating new events in the off season and leveraging the existing events calendar to grow the shoulder seasons.
[Tourism optimism in Cooktown – TTNQ Fortnightly Pulse – 08 February 2023]