Published Thursday, 04 December, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
The Honourable Desley Boyle
Tourism Tropical North Queensland receives $60,000 QLD Government Christmas present
Tourism Tropical North Queensland will receive a $60,000 special grant to develop an online program to help small and medium-sized tourism operators become more web savvy, Tourism Minister Desley Boyle announced today.
Ms Boyle said the grant, which was part of $1 million in State Government funding allocated to the state’s 14 regional tourism organisations, would be used to help small and medium-sized tourism businesses make more effective use of the internet for marketing and for bookings.
“More and more potential visitors are researching and booking their travel online so if an operator doesn’t have a good, easy to navigate website with up-to-date information, they are behind the eight ball,” Ms Boyle said.
“There is a whole range of marketing and booking tools available for operators and this project will help Tourism Tropical North Queensland develop an online training program to help its members make the most of these opportunities.”
She said in the year to June 30 2008, 1.4 million domestic and 826,000 international visitors spent time in Tropical North Queensland, spending more than $2.5 billion.
Of these, 800,000 domestic and 751,000 international visitors came specifically on holiday.
“Tourism is one of the key economic drivers for the region so it is important that the local industry continually looks for ways to improve and develop fresh, new product,” she said.
“Both government and industry need to continue to raise the bar by looking for new opportunities and better ways of doing things.
“The $1 million in grant funding is a State Government commitment to fund tourism development initiatives regional tourism organisations would otherwise be unable to undertake.
“Regional tourism organisations across the state will use their allocations for a whole range of projects from new product feasibility studies to industry education programs.”
Ms Boyle said the funding was part of the State Government’s Queensland Tourism Strategy commitment to an additional $4 million in funding over four years for regional tourism organisations.
“Competition for the tourist dollar is increasingly fierce and it’s important for destinations to constantly look at ways to improve their visitor experience – be it looking for new product opportunities, increasing customer service levels or providing business advice and support to operators,” she said.
“I was pleased to see so many high-quality submissions and look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition.”
Further information:
Minister’s office – 3225 1005 or 0419 025 326
Tourism Queensland – 3535 5010
Ms Boyle said the grant, which was part of $1 million in State Government funding allocated to the state’s 14 regional tourism organisations, would be used to help small and medium-sized tourism businesses make more effective use of the internet for marketing and for bookings.
“More and more potential visitors are researching and booking their travel online so if an operator doesn’t have a good, easy to navigate website with up-to-date information, they are behind the eight ball,” Ms Boyle said.
“There is a whole range of marketing and booking tools available for operators and this project will help Tourism Tropical North Queensland develop an online training program to help its members make the most of these opportunities.”
She said in the year to June 30 2008, 1.4 million domestic and 826,000 international visitors spent time in Tropical North Queensland, spending more than $2.5 billion.
Of these, 800,000 domestic and 751,000 international visitors came specifically on holiday.
“Tourism is one of the key economic drivers for the region so it is important that the local industry continually looks for ways to improve and develop fresh, new product,” she said.
“Both government and industry need to continue to raise the bar by looking for new opportunities and better ways of doing things.
“The $1 million in grant funding is a State Government commitment to fund tourism development initiatives regional tourism organisations would otherwise be unable to undertake.
“Regional tourism organisations across the state will use their allocations for a whole range of projects from new product feasibility studies to industry education programs.”
Ms Boyle said the funding was part of the State Government’s Queensland Tourism Strategy commitment to an additional $4 million in funding over four years for regional tourism organisations.
“Competition for the tourist dollar is increasingly fierce and it’s important for destinations to constantly look at ways to improve their visitor experience – be it looking for new product opportunities, increasing customer service levels or providing business advice and support to operators,” she said.
“I was pleased to see so many high-quality submissions and look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition.”
Further information:
Minister’s office – 3225 1005 or 0419 025 326
Tourism Queensland – 3535 5010