15 Nov 2013
Words Tim Admin

Extreme Way to “Put Queensland On the Map”

How’s this for looking on the bright side? When ABC News spoke to Mission Beach’s Castaways Resort manager James Neville Smith the day after Cyclone Yasi crashed through, he said: “more people are going to know where Mission Beach is today than two or three days ago; this cyclone has put us on the map.” Wow. While acknowledging the scale of destruction and the pain it was causing his community, he was still confident travellers would return to the area soon. It struck me that, with his simple, stoic response, this guy summed up the mood of Queensland generally and of the tourism industry in particular. ‘We’re down, but not out. And we’ll soon be back better than ever!’ That’s certainly the message tourism industry leaders are at pains to get out there. We’re a resilient lot. Not just in Queensland either, but in the Outback and in Victoria, wherever the wrath of Mother Nature has been felt. But it is in the ‘Sunshine State’ she has done her worst, dealing a crushing double-whammy of natural disasters starting with widespread flooding followed by the terrifying cyclone which devastated the Mission Beach, Cardwell and Tully stretch of coast. ercifully, larger surrounding population centres pulled through relatively unscathed. And that’s the thing. For every picture of inundated properties and flattened trees, there are many more unseen images of tourists still basking under sunny skies, swimming, sailing, adventuring and generally having fun in the many destinations untouched by these terrible events. While the reality of the mess in affected areas is undeniable, the toughest problem for the tourism industry may be more about perception than reality. Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) CEO, Daniel Gschwind, admits as much. “We don’t know how many perception issues we will have to deal with, with people from interstate or possibly overseas concluding that going to Queensland is not a good idea, despite the fact that many major tourism destinations are perfectly fine and open for business,” he told accomnews.com. The difficultly, he said, was to get the message out that while the disasters are serious and businesses in the impact zones are suffering greatly, the majority of the State’s tourism hot spots are unaffected. After the horrendous floods, Queensland’s peak industry body, the QTIC swung into action, urging national and international holidaymakers not to abandon the State. Even before Yasi, hotels, motels, resorts and caravan parks Statewise were hit with cancellations, even in areas like the Gold Coast which had seen none of the extreme weather. It was a cruel blow for an industry emerging from the economic downturn only to be challenged by a strong Aussie dollar making holidays here a less attractive value proposition. Now the nation and the world were seeing images of destruction in their newspapers and on their TVs, throwing yet another challenge at the beleaguered sector. Everyone was told an area bigger than Germany was flooded. In the same breath, they needed to be reminded Queensland is five times the size of Germany! We need some perspective here. Yes, the floods and the cyclones are bad news and yes, they will put a serious dent in the economy. But we will recover, and probably more quickly than most expect. Resort Brokers Australia managing director Ian Crooks says he is amazed at the resilience and spirit of people, towns and businesses. “Our head office, though it stayed high and dry during the Brisbane floods, is located in one of the first and worst hit suburbs. But just days later, I walked along the river and things had been cleaned up to a point where it was difficult to imagine the deluge had been through,” he said. “I honestly think people will bounce back quickly and strongly. We need to look for the positives and get the message out there that, as the Queensland Government has been saying, we are open for business.” Analysts and researchers at IBISWorld issued a special report immediately after the floods (before Cyclone Yasi) estimating the economic impact of the event. They predicted the floods would mean Australia’s tourism industry revenue in 2010-11 would be cut by 0.7%, or $590 million, to $83.61 billion. Yasi will no doubt slice several more million dollars off that total. But IBISworld forecasts a rapid rebound as tourism boards and individual operators rise to the PR challenge of communicating that Queensland is back in business, safe to visit and keen to do deals. Indeed, straight after the floods, Tourism Queensland put a $600,000 ‘welcome back’ ad campaign into Sydney and Melbourne and promised more aggressive marketing campaigns, particularly targeting the vital Easter market. The Queensland and Federal governments waded in with a $10 million Tourism Industry Support Package, and the QTIC took its place as a key member of the Economic Recovery Coordination Group, the Business Activation Group and the Tourism Group, taking the industry’s concerns direct to decision-makers. In late January, the QTIC hosted a significant event in partnership with the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, inviting high-powered tourism players and key media to a detailed briefing emphasising the ‘open for business’ message. At every level – government, industry and at the coalface – the plea is to support tourism, to ‘do the right thing’ and book a holiday now. We should all do our bit to spread that message. Remember, there are roughly 117,000 registered tourism businesses in Queensland and the vast majority are small businesses, most with five or less employees. Small business operators will be the hardest hit, and we applaud every initiative to extend financial assistance such as grants and concessional interest rate loans to struggling operators, to help minimise job losses and get them back on their feet. Let’s also remember the upsides and opportunities. The spirit, resilience and amazing generosity being shown is truly inspiring. This also shines through the media reports and leaves people in no doubt that Australia is warm and welcoming, full of places you’d love to visit and full of people you’d love to meet. In many hard hit areas, accommodation will quickly be in great demand, to house the armies of construction workers, trades people and government representatives pouring in to play their part in the recovery. “Just as I was amazed by the speed of the clean-up in Brisbane, I’m confident we will all be heartened by just how quickly and strongly our industry can bounce back everywhere,” Ian Crooks said. IBISWorld and Tourism Queensland echoed similar positive outlooks. TQ CEO Anthony Hayes told ABC News the disasters wouldn’t have a long-term impact on the way Queensland and its localities are seen as tourist destinations. IBISWorld predicted the industry would rebound in 2011-12 as stories of the flooding and storms fade in the minds of prospective visitors. And let’s not forget the ‘O’ factor! The impact of Oprah Winfrey’s visit to Australia meant, while the world did see some scary disaster images, they were also seeing spectacular footage of our country looking her absolute best. Former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh put it well when she said the natural disasters had “tried to do their worst” but Queensland’s spirit had never shone so brightly. Australia, wherever you are in this vast land, is still the place for a holiday of a lifetime.