2010 – 2019

The new strategy focused on diversifying the current market segments and on attracting sporting and cultural events in the shoulder seasons, which would bring people into the region who were not constrained by the vagaries of the leisure market. The then Events Queensland CEO John O’Sullivan and Cairns Airport CEO Stephen Gregg were great advocates for the strategy. The formula to diversify worked with the first major event, the Cairns Airport Adventure Festival including Ironman, delivering an $8.8 million boost to the economy in 2012. Giason said it was fantastic to see the community embrace events. The region’s reputation grew with Cairns hosting the Mountain Bike World Cups in 2014 and 2016, and the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.

In October 2012 the first direct flight from mainland China arrived in Cairns with the China Eastern service from Shanghai the first step in TTNQ’s goal of 200,000 Chinese visitors by 2015. While there was broad community acceptance of the Japanese market, Giason was concerned the Chinese market was growing a bit faster than could be managed. “It was important for people to be welcoming and so we launched a community engagement campaign to be China ready, working with the media to teach locals how to greet visitors with ‘ni hao’ and understand cultural differences as well as the enormous economic impact this market could have for our community.”

With eight years and three months under his belt, Giason was TTNQ’s longest serving leader, choosing not to leave when the industry fell on hard times as he felt it needed stable leadership. TTNQ pitched to become the first regional destination to host ATE in 2014 and Giason, who stepped down in 2013, was a little sad to attend as a visitor rather than a key player but was proud to see the strong community engagement that he had initiated result in one of the best received ATEs in its history. Giason and his wife Leonie continue to call Cairns home – fully committed to the sales pitch. Bill Calderwood returned to become Chair from 2009 to 2011, after which Stephen Gregg was appointed from 2011 to 2015.

Time for investment

Alex de Waal, who had led both TQ’s marketing and Sunlover Holidays, arrived in 2014 to steer TTNQ as it grappled with the positioning of the Tropical North Queensland brand and the need for new hotels after a 20-year hiatus in development. “We needed to reinvigorate the destination and find new ways to drive industry forward with positive media and PR to be regarded by the rest of world as leading tourism globally. We introduced an innovation conference with a stellar lineup of speakers to demonstrate that Cairns was an innovation hub and inspire enthusiasm within the community that we had a lot to offer,” de Waal said.

A Destination Positioning Review found the name Tropical North Queensland had the greatest appeal to focus groups as did the tagline ‘Where the Rainforest meets the Reef’. With this direction established, de Waal met with TA, Austrade, Cairns Regional Council and the Cairns Chamber of Commerce to look at product development and infrastructure. TTNQ assessed current accommodation offerings and identified potential for future growth and investment. Armed with a professionally developed prospectus to build investor confidence, the organisation leveraged Austrade networks to bring investors to the region and promote the destination’s long-term potential.

“That process snared Ghassan Aboud, who then built the three Crystalbrook hotels in Cairns, the biggest highlight of my time at TTNQ,” Alex said. “On the first day he came to Cairns with the Chamber of Commerce, he was so enthusiastic about the destination, and I met with him on a number of occasions.” Aboud’s decision to invest in Cairns and his use of the name Crystalbrook was cemented when John Morris hosted Aboud at his Crystalbrook Station on the Atherton Tablelands. A delighted Aboud caught a 1m long barramundi, declaring that night that the Tropical North was the place to be in his quest to find a destination to build a new hotel brand.

Chair Max Shepherd (2015-2017) took over from Gregg, continuing the momentum but encountering some challenges, particularly around the perception that China Eastern had withdrawn from the region after operating services to Cairns across three Chinese New Year seasons. “Many in the industry felt it would continue, but China Eastern didn’t commit to the following year. We worked with Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) to get a seasonal connection with China Southern and once again got a commitment to come to Cairns, but it wasn’t long-term and markets changed over time,” Shepherd said.

During his tenure, the TTNQ board also made the strategic decision to close the Cairns Visitor Information Centre on the Esplanade. “We needed to consider whether TTNQ’s role was to bring people into the region or to service them once here,” Shepherd explained. “All hotels plus local travel agents service the market with information and sales, and while the VIC provided a balance of independent advice, it was at a cost to marketing the region.”

In 2016 and 2017, back-to-back coral bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef triggered international media coverage suggesting the Reef was dying. Then-CEO Alex de Waal wanted to change this perception. “The image of the destination is very much linked to the Great Barrier Reef, so we needed to balance to the conversation. TTNQ took the bold move to invest in Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, a concept I developed to enable people to take ownership of the Reef. When people have a sense of ownership, it engenders support, empathy and commitment resulting in a powerful citizens movement to provide a balance of perspectives in the media,” de Waal said.

Female Leaders Emerge

Wendy Morris, a marine biologist, businesswoman and daughter of tourism pioneer John Morris, was appointed chair in 2017, right in the height of the negative Reef publicity. “We joined discussions with TEQ about how to work more closely with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science and came together with much stronger collaboration in 2018-2019 to work through a communications strategy to bring the different messages about ‘the Reef is dead’ or ‘the Reef is fine’ onto one page backed by science and facts,” Morris said. 

“Savannah Guides founder John Courtenay championed the concept that became the Master Reef Guides program, which has been instrumental in delivering accurate, science-based Reef messaging. It also resulted in valuable research exploring how tourism and science aligned post bleaching, giving us a closer communication network for a more resilient industry.”

In 2017, Augusta Margaret River Tourism Association CEO Pip Close was appointed CEO of TTNQ. Listening to industry feedback, she reintroduced the Cairns & Great Barrier Reef branding to support international marketing efforts. “It was a good decision, particularly for the European market when the Reef messaging was challenged and it led to a very big campaign. I secured funding from TEQ and employed GlobalSpot in Germany who led an industry roadshow with a Master Reef Guide which was a huge success,” she said.

Close championed several Indigenous tourism initiatives, including the creation of a First Nations cluster group, the appointment of a Torres Strait coordinator to assist in developing tourism in that region, and securing funding for Mandingalbay Authentic Indigenous Tours.

The Amway China conference with 6000 delegates in two tranches during Close’s term in 2018 remains the largest business event Cairns has hosted, while the arrival of US Vice-President Mike Pence on his way to the APEC Summit in Papua New Guinea turned the eyes of the world’s media to the Tropical North. Another great publicity opportunity arose after Close worked with Douglas Shire Council for the Douglas and Daintree region to become Australia’s first destination to achieve Eco-Certification in 2019.

With the three Crystalbrook hotels under construction in 2017, there was substantial investment in tourism infrastructure underway. The $50 million Cairns Aquarium, The Precinct – a $66.5 million development incorporating the Cairns Performing Arts Centre and the Munro Martin Parklands – the $17.4 million City Centre Alive transformation, and Hemingway’s Brewery on the waterfront at the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal. By December 2017 visitation had reached 2.7 million with expenditure of $3.14 billion during a year in which 2% of the city’s room stock had been lost while the Crystalbrook construction was underway.

During this era more direct flights from Asia came online with Jin Air arriving from Seoul over Chinese New Year in 2026-17 and 2017-18 and China Southern arriving from Guangzhou in December 2017. The service ended in April 2019 and then in October Cathay Pacific exited Cairns shocking the industry after a successful 26-year relationship.

Wendy and the Board secured a five-year agreement with Cairns Regional Council for $16 million, finally achieving some security for marketing funding. Close invested in PR, working with TEQ to successfully bid for Cairns to host the Australian Society of Travel Writers Conference in 2019, which resulted in extraordinary domestic PR that paid off when the destination needed it most – the COVID-19 pandemic.