Tropical Queensland turns up the heat - Oct 00

By Miles Clarke As the cranes start moving again across the major Asian city skylines, conference and incentive planners are again fanning out across the region, seeking destinations that will push the buttons for their clients. The Australian Tourist Commission's recent Dreamtime incentive showcase had incentive-travel buyers from Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia in attendance. Now designated "Tropical" North Queensland since it is more attractive and less intimidating than "Far" and positions the area as much as an Asia Pacific region as an Australian one. Cairns and Port Douglas have the Great Barrier Reef and a World Heritage rainforest as their core attractions as well as a sophisticated and diverse visitor industry that has developed around them. Securing conventions and incentives from Asia is a priority for the Cairns Convention Centre, the most significant meetings venue outside of an Australian state capital city. "International meetings are 35% of our business. We anticipate that this will rise to 50% in the next few years. Asia is part of that strategy," says Cairns Convention Centre managing director Mr Geoff Donaghy, who has a long history in the promotion of the TNQ region. "We see Singapore and Hong Kong as our primary Asian target markets. Earlier this year, we did a roadshow to those cities and we plan an expanded second one later in the year. We've attended the IT&CMA trade show for years and see good long-term results from the region." Mr Donaghy says that Cairns and the centre had maintained their presence in the key Asian markets throughout the economic downturn and was well positioned to take advantage of the return to financial health of the region. "We have air services from Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airways, Japan Airlines and Garuda - so there's no problem with regard to capacity," says Mr Donaghy. "We are also seeing some international associations launching Asia Pacific chapters of their organisations and believe that a new circuit of regional meetings has much potential for Cairns. We are in the same or similar time zone to our Asian neighbours and are no more than a five- to seven-hour flight away." Unlike other major source markets, travel agents in Asia play a greater role in the delivery of delegate numbers and the Cairns Convention Centre team is continuing to build its relationship with this sector. With four years of operation and its first major extension completed, which allows a plenary of 5,000 delegates, the CCC is now setting its target to attract a more even flow of events over the year. Most of its events are held June to November, but Mr Donaghy says the shoulder period of April, May and June is attracting bookings. "We are happy to negotiate for events during this period and the accommodation sector will be more than happy to discuss some favourable rates," says Mr Donaghy. Cairns is by no means a one-industry town. Tourism is a major industry but sugar, ship-building and education (for Asia) are among the growth sectors in this thriving city of 100,000. Meetings attracted 13,500 delegates to the city last year, who splashed US$15million and bought an additional 45,000 room nights into the local economy, excluding pre- and post-conference touring. While the region is perennially warm, the wet season from November through to March can play havoc with the best-laid plans. Local destination management companies (DMCs) have wet-weather plans, but it should be incumbent upon the organiser to warn their clients that rain is a possibility when one meets in a rainforest. The Great Southern Pacific Express, a luxury train operating down the coast of Queensland and New South Wales, no longer provides its Cairns/Brisbane service January to March due to the wet season and has instead scheduled a programme taking in the NSW Blue Mountains, Canberra and Sydney. For the other nine months, the GSPE devotes its service to the Cairns/Brisbane sector. One of the great disappointments for visitors to Cairns has a long been the spectacle of the mud flats at low tide from the esplanade - not quite the swaying palms and sandy beach image of the region. The Cairns Esplanade Project is to change all that with its two hectares of recreational, open space including a 4,000sq metre non-tidal saltwater lagoon with sandy beaches and deepwater areas. Audiences of up to 10,000 people will be catered for in the proposed Domain Amphitheatre and Sound Shell. The Cityport Project undertaken by the Cairns Port Authority will redevelop Cairns' existing port area into a cosmopolitan tourism precinct. Major features are an enlarged jetty, providing 320 berths and wave protection jetty, new reef fleet berths with covered access to reef boats, a reef-fleet terminal and a waterfront promenade along the length of Cityport and linking with the Esplanade. Cairns has a well developed events management industry - with staging and production expertise of a "big city" standard. However, there was a complaint last year that it had proved cheaper to bring equipment from the UK rather than hiring it in Brisbane. Cairns is well provided for in regard to accommodation, with Hilton International, Radisson, Holiday Inn, Matson and Mercure among the leading properties. Accor"s premier brand, Sofitel, has taken over the troubled Reef Hotel and Casino that was hit by the economic downturn in Asia. Bringing Sofitel's muscle to the equation, the landmark property is now positioned to cater for the well-heeled incentive reward winner and conference delegate. Cairns is geared for larger groups and the leisure market with no fewer than 600 tours leaving the city by road, sea, rail and air every day of the week. A scenic hour's drive to the north, Port Douglas caters for the more exclusive market. The jewel in the crown is the Sheraton Mirage located on the fashionable Four Mile Beach. The hotel shows its "opulent 80s" origins, but maintains exacting standards. Lizard Island off the North Queensland coast has completed a major refurbishment in the wake of its takeover by P&O Resorts from Qantas. The resort is surrounded by brilliant coral reefs. Along with Hayman Island in the Whitsundays to the south, Lizard is a bolthole for the rich and famous seeking anonymity. P&O Resorts is also responsible for Silky Oaks, a deluxe eco-resort near Mossman, north of Port Douglas. Hannafords Special Events, a Port Douglas-based DMC, has had great success in recent years with its imaginative rainforest and reef events for the incentive travel market, several of which have earned them SITE Crystal Awards, the highest international recognition from the incentive industry's peak body. A new development from Hannafords is "Our Place", where a semi-permanent dining space is created for a few months at a time for groups and individuals to dine "beneath the canopy of the world's oldest rainforest or under the stars on a moonlit tropical beach". "Our guests dine in settings of the most extraordinary natural beauty in comfort. Just you and the forest canopy or the lapping waves," says company director Ms Amelia Hannaford. "With custom-designed equipment, including a mobile commercial kitchen and mobile luxury loos, Our Place is a self-contained mobile feasting and event unit, which can move from stunning location to stunning location in TNQ. "We will set up in one locale of outstanding natural beauty for four to six months and then move with the change of season to another. This enables us to protect our locations from intrusion and offer returning guests an ever-changing experience." Naturally, the overall per head cost of using Our Place compared with a venue created from scratch is considerably reduced. Hannafords has a reputation for the "theatre" it builds into its events. Visitors can expect anything from mythology and music and drama.