International spotlight on Capricorn Region Southern Great Barrier Reef
Posted on April 26th, 2023
Eleven (11) international tourism trade partners and four (4) international media representatives are experiencing the Capricorn region within the Southern Great Barrier Reef (SGBR) destination over the next three weeks, either prior to, or after, their attendance at the annual International Media Marketplace (IMM) and the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) being held at the Gold Coast.
In partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ), Capricorn Enterprise and our trade ready industry operators have rolled out the red carpet to showcase as many experiences across our magnificent region as possible. In fact, this is a record number of international visits in the shortest amount of time, with the least number of staff we have ever helped co-ordinate and hosted in our region!
Five different groups, from one to four tourism Product Managers in each, based in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, America and Australia, are enjoying different itineraries and experiences on the Capricorn Coast/Great Keppel Island, Rockhampton city, Carnarvon Gorge and Sapphire Gemfields, targeted to their individual markets.
An incredible amount of planning, human and financial resources are committed to ensuring our tourism trade and media partners from around the world are so impressed by their visit to Queensland and our regional destinations, that they will sell our products amongst strong national and international competition.
The 43rd edition of ATE (30th April to 4th May), hosted by Tourism Australia, held in partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland and supported by Destination Gold Coast, will bring together around 2,300 delegates from Australia and more than 30 international markets. After two years of condensed hybrid events, ATE23 will return to its traditional format, running over five days.
We have a record thirteen (13) operator booths attending from our Southern Great Barrier Reef (SGBR) destination (5 Capricorn, 5 Bundaberg, 3 Gladstone) and our tourism trade ready product grows each year, with our Capricorn region now boasting thirty accommodation and tour experiences contracted with tourism wholesalers and inbound tour operators (ITOs)!
Congratulations to our four Capricorn region operators investing in their own booth in the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination section at ATE: Great Keppel Island Hideaway, Capricorn Caves, Empire/Edge Apartment Hotels and Oshen Yeppoon, along with our RTO booth. Congratulations also to our 2023 tourism trade mentees attending ATE on a day pass – Funtastic Cruises and Koorana Crocodile Farm. A number of our operators across our region are also represented at ATE by their Brands in the National section, including Breeze Holiday Parks – Carnarvon Gorge, Central Apartment Group (R’ton & Emerald), Discovery Parks (Yeppoon & R’ton), Quest (R’ton), Accor (Mercure R’ton).
The ATE23 Media program (28th April to 1st May) will be the first full media program to be delivered since 2019. The SGBR destination partnership of Capricorn, Gladstone and Bundaberg are attending IMM for the very first time, with an exceptional preparation of media pitches and images documented from each of our stunning regions!
