Selling our destination to the world! Annual Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE)
Posted on April 17th, 2018
This week, I am sending our greetings from Adelaide at Tourism Australia’s Annual Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) where 2,500 sellers and buyers in the tourism industry participate in four (4) solid days of back to back 15 minute appointments which equates to eighty-six (86) in total! Teamed with networking events throughout the week, this week is key in our annual business to business contracting.
Our Southern Great Barrier Reef Destination is here in force, with a double booth for our three regional tourism organisation representatives and our tourism trade mentees, as well as a record number of eight (8) individual SGBR operator booths!
We have grown from less than 10 to nearly 60 tourism “trade ready” products across the entire SGBR destination in the past eight years, which are now contracting with tourism trade (Wholesalers and Inbound Tour Operators), thanks to the strong commitment, both financially and in human resources, by the three RTO’s of Capricorn Enterprise, GAPDL (Gladstone region) and BNBT (Bundaberg/North Burnett).
Our collective goal is to demonstrate that our destination has sufficient Tourism Products, Service, Experiences (both natural and man-made), consistency and reliability that is required if we expect tourism wholesalers and inbound tour operators (ITO’s) to have trust to sell us both domestically and internationally to help build our overnight visitor numbers and visitor expenditure.
From SGBR Islands to our coastal towns and communities, from our cities to our country experiences, our Capricorn region stretching from the Central Highlands to the Keppel Islands, is represented via our collective SGBR Tourism Trade Manual, our quarterly SGBR Trade enews, our annual Trade Mentoring Program (Amanda Kruse, Success Matrix) and our day to day contact with operators and people who sell our destination.
A very special thanks to our local operators who are attending this year’s ATE18 event in Adelaide with their own booth which is a significant investment both financially and in human resources:
- Great Keppel Island Hideaway – Eloise Chaffers
- Capricorn Caves – Amanda Hinton
- Empire/Edge Apartment Hotels – Zac Garven
- Pumpkin Island (2 day pass) – Laureth Rumble
A number of local accommodation operators are also represented at ATE annually via their Chain Brands, including:
- Central Apartment Group (Rockhampton, Emerald and Gladstone Central Hotels)
- Discovery Parks (Discovery Park – Coolwaters Yeppoon, Rockhampton, Blackwater, Emerald, Biloela, Tannum Sands)
- Choice Hotels Asia-Pac (Quality Hotel Regent Rockhampton and Denison Boutique Hotel)
- Travelodge (Rockhampton)
Additional local operators contracted with tourism trade and represented in the SGBR Trade Manual include:- Henderson Park Farm Retreat, Pumpkin Island, Yeppoon Accommodation (Beaches on Lammermoor, Salt, Echelon), Sail Capricornia, Villa Mar Colina, Emus Beach Resort, Freedom Fastcats, Rosslyn Bay Resort, and Takarakka Bush Resort Carnarvon Gorge.
Our local and regional product, combined with product from the Gladstone/Town of 1770/Ages Water and Bundaberg/Bargara/North Burnett regions creates an incredibly strong Southern Great Barrier Reef story to “tell and sell”.
We have matured as a destination through hard work, partnership and collaboration and the 18/19 and 19/20 contracting period is looking extremely positive for both our operators and all of our tourism precincts.
Until next time…..
Mary Carroll
CEO Capricorn Enterprise
