First trip to Australia becomes a memorable highlight for UK visitor
Posted on February 18th, 2020
Following what was a hugely successful Queensland on Tour campaign throughout Europe and UK at the end of 2019, Capricorn Enterprise had the opportunity to further showcase our prime Southern Great Barrier Reef destination to a ‘very impressed’ UK neighbour.
Held every two years, Tourism and Events Queensland’s international team bring together key Product Managers in tourism wholesale as well as retail travel agents to meet directly with Queensland tourism operators and Regional Tourism Organisations.
As representative for the entire Southern Great Barrier Reef destination and on behalf of our three- way partnership in Capricorn, Gladstone and Bundaberg regions, CEO of Capricorn Enterprise, Mary Carroll ensured travel agents maintained a strong interest in our part of Queensland.
“Queensland on Tour is such an important event in selling our destination to the rest of the world and key to that is making sure our Western markets are aware of all the incredible opportunities on offer when visitors arrive on our doorstep,” said Mary.
“Fortunately, every year we see product knowledge increasing across Europe and the UK and the Southern Great Barrier Reef is fast becoming an appealing hot spot due to our easy-to-access islands, magical coral reefs and natural landscapes, which are highly desirable for our overseas visitors.”
Prior to attending, operators from the Southern Great Barrier Reef packaged an outstanding holiday prize for the event that would entice the doers and dreamers to book their next holiday here.
Naomi Camlin, Marketing Executive from First Class Holidays Manchester was the lucky winner and with her first trip to Australia to visit university mate, Jessica, already locked in, Naomi couldn’t wait to extend her visit to Melbourne with a 10-day holiday on the Southern Great Barrier Reef!
Naomi and Jessica were greeted at the Rockhampton airport and starting their holiday with an awe-inspiring Capricorn Caves tour. Highly impressed by the magnificent limestone caverns, Naomi and Jessica found the Caves to be a peaceful and tranquil start to their trip. “Our guide Christian was so passionate, and his tour was fantastic, quickly transforming our caving experience into one we won’t forget quickly,” said Naomi.
From caving adventures to a tropical island paradise, in less than an hour, Naomi and Jessica were on board Keppel Konnections for their short ferry transfer to Great Keppel Island. After two nights at Great Keppel Island Hideaway, our English fans were blown away by the laid back and relaxing atmosphere.
Activities including diving, snorkeling, bushwalking, kayaking, SUP’ing and 4WD’ing were all on offer, however simply plunging in the sub-tropical waters and kicking back to watch the sunset were favourites on the agenda. “The staff were extremely welcoming, and the absolute best part is that the island is so accessible with crystal clear water and stunning white sand.”
After arriving back on the mainland, Naomi and Jessica visited Cooberrie Park Wildlife Sanctuary to pay a visit to some of our local Aussie icons. “This was a truly wonderful wildlife encounter for us. You can tell the animals’ welfare is really looked after and the staff clearly love what they do and the reasons why they do it.”
The rest of the Capricorn leg of the trip was spent in Yeppoon, staying at Oshen Apartments. Naomi and Jessica soon discovered that Yeppoon had a lot to offer, much more than they had initially expected. “We found so much to do in Yeppoon. The foreshore was incredibly appealing and the amazing views over to the islands from our room were stunning.”
Naomi and Jessica are continuing their Southern Great Barrier Reef journey with three nights on Heron Island before continuing to Town of 1770 where they will experience the full day 1700 Larc! Environmental Tour.
They will continue on to Lady Elliot Island Resort before spending a night at Kelly’s Beach Resort in Bargara for their last night in the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination.
“I will definitely be recommending this destination to my colleagues and personally, I will be quickly planning my next trip back to see some more of this beautiful part of the world,” said Naomi.
