Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s ability to multiply the value of funding through strategic partnerships continued in 2023-24 by generating $177.8 million in domestic and international visitor expenditure and a record $300 million in advertising value equivalent including $123 million in publicity.
Delivering the 2023-24 Annual Report at Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s Annual General Meeting today (October 17) Chief Executive Officer Mark Olsen said the $15 million in Federal funding for international recovery had delivered an outstanding 43:1 return on investment.
“TTNQ undertook a staggering 95 campaigns in international markets in 2023-24 with $82 million in overnight international visitor expenditure injected into our regional economy from more than 66,000 bookings,” he said.
“The results continue to roll out with a further $52 million overnight international visitor expenditure and 50,000 bookings from those campaigns captured this quarter.
“TTTNQ’s larger international budget has allowed us to negotiate multiple global partnerships including working with booking giants like Expedia Group and Trip.com across multiple markets for the first time.
“Working with large trade partners helps to stretch this funding and further amplify the success of the campaigns by turning every dollar spent in the past 12 months into $3.
“This means our investment to date of $3.5 million into international trade conversion campaigns is forecast to achieve $10.5 million in campaign value.
“The many tourism businesses within our industry are benefiting with website traffic of 2.08 million generating 269,843 operator leads during the last financial year and the campaign activity delivering more than 101,000 domestic and international bookings which will continue to flow into our regional economy throughout the year.”
TTNQ Chair John O’Sullivan said the returns proved how important it was to invest in marketing and validated the Federal Government’s strategic investment in Tropical North Queensland through the International Tourism Recovery Program.
“International recovery is at just 62 per cent and it will be necessary to maintain strong global activity as flights increase at the end of the year to support and grow passenger numbers,” he said.
“Continued investment in global marketing will be critical for the growth of tourism in Tropical North Queensland which delivers valuable export dollars into the regional economy and supports one in five jobs.
“With no guaranteed funding beyond this financial year, TTNQ has been careful to create a legacy with very strong trade engagement to convert travel agents into advocates for the destination who continue to sell Tropical North Queensland for the next five years when we don’t have funding.
“Our team engaged with 6253 international trade partners, inbound tour operators and agents through famils, training, and in-market and in-region trade events to ensure Tropical North Queensland’s diverse products, extraordinary environment and focus on sustainability is fully understood.
“I am also very proud of TTNQ’s advocacy work after the $300 million loss of bookings in the wake of the Tropical Cyclone Jasper flooding.
“Once again, our destination marketing organisation prioritised our advocacy role which led to substantial assistance for the tourism industry.
“As a result the Federal and State Governments worked together to deliver an historic single sector investment of more than $35 million in funding made available through the Tourism Recovery and Resilience Program under Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
“Our consistent lobbying also resulted in the appointment of a Tourism Recovery Officer to help the industry navigate the available funding.
“With the leisure market impacted by the natural disaster, the value of business events became even more critical to the visitor economy.
“Home-grown events like Cairns in Cannes demonstrated the success of this sector with the conference growing from 650 delegates in 2022 to 1657 in 2024, helping to boost numbers in the shoulder season.
“TTNQ’s efforts to capitalise on the first full year of the Cairns Convention Centre’s newly expanded premises brought dividends with business visitors growing by 10.5% to 473,000 with a record 2.3 million nights.”
The highlights of TTNQ’s 2023-24 Annual Report were:
- Lobbied for more than $35 million in funding from the Tourism Recovery and Resilience Program following Tropical Cyclone Jasper.
- The launch of TNQ’s first global trade campaigns utilising the Federal Government’s $15 million International Tourism Recovery Program funding.
- International Tourism Recovery Program funding supported the return of direct seasonal flights with China Eastern, the daily Haneda connection with Virgin Australia, and the launch of wide-bodied aircraft with Singapore Airlines on the Cairns route.
- 103 campaigns in market globally by the end of June 2024 generating $111 million in overnight visitor expenditure.
- Global public relations worth $123.2 million with a reach of 478 billion.
Generated a record 149 business events leads valued at $113 million and won 76 events worth $52 million. - Leisure events delivered $15 million in visitation and $15.4 million in publicity.
- The destination website traffic attracted more than 2 million users, a record for TTNQ, and generated 269,843 operator referrals.
- Tourism and Events Queensland and TTNQ hosted the first performance on the outer Great Barrier Reef, Savannah Sounds on the Reef, in April 2024 with the support of the Disaster Recovery Funding.
- Cairns hosted DestinationQ, Destination IQ and the Queensland Tourism Awards, and the first post-pandemic G’Day Australia in Cairns for 300 Aussie Specialists in 2023.
- Launched the TNQ Sustainability Leaders Group as part of the vision for Tropical North Queensland to be a leader in ecotourism in Australia.
Read the 2023-24 Annual Report.
