2017 Southern Great Barrier Reef Combined Destination Guide Released!
Posted on February 15th, 2017
Capricorn Enterprise is proud to release the new 2017 Destination Guide for the Southern Great Barrier Reef …. Where Great Begins…
Since 2011, three Regional Tourism Organisations Capricorn Enterprise, Gladstone Area Promotions & Development Ltd (GAPDL) and Bundaberg North Burnett Tourism (BNBT) have been working in partnership to promote our amazing regions under the destination brand of ‘Southern Great Barrier Reef’ (SGBR).
This branded partnership approach has won successive Queensland Tourism Awards for Destination Marketing in 2015 and 2016, with visitor expenditure to the year ending September 2016 to the SGBR destination reaching a record $1 Billion and up 7.2% from the previous year.
Of the 1.932 Million domestic visitors to the SGBR Destination to the year ending September 2016, 1.67 Million were from within Queensland and 262,000 were from Interstate, with strong growth from Melbourne and Victoria. Visitors are predominately from three sources – holiday/leisure visitors (585,000), those visiting friends and relatives (VFR) (583,000) and business visitors (627,000).
This year the brand takes a step further by merging three separate consumer guides from the three regions and combining them in to one high quality destination guide. This single A4 brochure combines the individual precincts that Southern Great Barrier Reef encompasses, highlights major drive touring routes into and throughout the destination and showcases sweeping imagery with a focus on Hero Experiences. Major festivals and events are showcased, along with national parks and sandstone wilderness, supported by advertising from our accommodation, tours and attractions throughout the SGBR.
Mary Carroll, CEO of Capricorn Enterprise said, “we are so very proud of this beautiful destination guide which has taken four months in the making and project managed by our talented marketing team at Capricorn Enterprise. Our Southern Great Barrier partnership of three tourism regions working so closely together with our tourism industry continues to set an excellent benchmark.”
Darryl Branthwaite, CEO of the Gladstone Area Promotion and Development Ltd (GAPDL), is very proud of the partnership between the three regions, and the ability to work together which has amazing outcomes for everyone involved. “The combined SGBR Brochure certainly enforces the natural beauty to be enjoyed right across the destination, from the stunning Carnarvon Gorge and Sapphire Gemfields, right through to the pristine beaches and the crystal clear waters of the Southern Great Barrier Reef” he said.
According to Katherine Mergard, General Manager of Bundaberg North Burnett Tourism, “As demands increase, it’s imperative for us as RTOs to continually look for ways we can stretch our budgets and continue to enhance our destination marketing efforts. The regional Visitors Guides were a publication we all produced and all distributed to the same locations, so it makes sense for us to pool our resources to expand our reach and add further value to our industry.”
The collaborative Southern Great Barrier Reef Destination Guide showcases the strengths of visitor experiences through inspirational content and will be the key piece of collateral used by the SGBR partnership at the Caravan, Camping and Touring Holiday Shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane over the coming months.
125,000 copies have been printed and will be displayed in all 115 accredited Visitor Information Centres across Queensland and sent to over 10 Consumer Shows each year (incl. Caravan & Camping and Travel Expos). They will also be distributed to households in targeted Central Queensland locations as well as local accommodation houses, tourist attractions, and businesses. The guides will be included in all tourism and relocation information packs mailed out by regional Visitor Information Centres and will be available to view and read online at southerngreatbarrierreef.com.au, capricornholidays.com.au, queensland.com.au, gladstoneregion.info, bundabergregion.org and the RACQ Virtual Visitor Centre.
Destination Guides will be distributed to Visitor Information Centres from Friday 17 February. The guide will be available to all local businesses to distribute and will be available online as a downloadable e-mag. If you would like to stock Destination Guides in your business, please contact one of the following Visitor Information Centres:
Visitor Information Centres of the Southern Great Barrier Reef
Bundaberg: Bundaberg Information Centre, 271 Bourbong Street, Bundaberg – 1300 722 099
Gladstone: Gladstone Visitor Information Centre, Marina Ferry Terminal, 72 Bryan Jordan Drive, Gladstone – 07 4972 9000
Rockhampton: Tropic of Capricorn Spire Visitor Information Centre, Gladstone Road – 1800 676 701
Yeppoon: Capricorn Coast Visitor Information Centre, Ross Creek Roundabout – 1800 675 785
SGBR Destination Guide PDF
