February 23, 2017
Tourism Minister Kate Jones reassured the delegates at this week’s Southern Queensland Country Tourism conference in Kingaroy that the State Government was behind them in their efforts.
The conference was held over two days at Kingaroy Town Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, where 90 delegates and tourism operators from the SQCT region heard Ms Jones and a range of guest speakers.
“We want you to grow,” she said. “We understand clearly that tourism means jobs.”
Ms Jones came to Kingaroy to officially open the conference.
She urged the tourism operators to work together: “We drive results when we work collaboratively.”
And the aim was to leave visitors with an “emotional experience”, especially one that they can share online.
Ms Jones said there also had to be a change of narrative about tourism not being a long-term job choice.
She said the Young Tourism initiative, being run in conjunction with Tourism Queensland, was all about going into schools to talk to students about tourism as a career.
“We are very fortunate to have such a strong RTO (Regional Tourism Organisation) network in Queensland,” Mr Jones said.
“We have come a long way as an industry.
“The collaboration, the sharing of ideas, the cohesion we have today has never been better.”
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SQCT chairman Dr Jane Summers also spoke at the conference, referring to recent criticism of the organisation which, she said, had been “useful to future planning”
Dr Summers said the participation and partnership of tourism operators and Local and State Government was crucial to the success of marketing the region.
“The board acknowledges that the recent conversation about the importance of tourism to our region is timely and it highlights the opportunity to talk about funding models, development opportunities and the importance of partnerships and relationships to the future of tourism,” Dr Summers said.
She said criticisms of the current funding model and RTO model for regional tourism had highlighted important questions for both State and Local Government around the sustainable future for the industry.
“The board fully supports the organisation, who are doing a great job in marketing the region and achieving growth with the resources available to them. Be assured however that the organisation is not resting on the good results achieved to date, but are looking keenly to the future,” she said.
“We will continue our work in broadening our focus to the international markets of New Zealand and Europe, and interstate markets who can now access our region via direct flights into Wellcamp.”
Footnote: Dr Summers was referring to recent criticism of the organisation by Wellcamp Airport developer John Wagner. Mr Wagner organised a meeting of tourism operators at Wellcamp Airport on Thursday who discussed forming a breakaway tourism association from SQCT.
- Related article: ‘Time Right’ For Tourism Discussion
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The 2017 Chairman’s Tourism Award winners and runners-up were announced by Dr Summers at the “A Taste Of South Burnett” meet’n’greet held in the Town Hall Forecourt on Tuesday night.
This is the second year that the Chairman’s Award has been awarded.
Finalists:
- Kingsley Grove Estate
- Highfields Pioneer Village
- R On The Downs
Runners-up:
- Hillview Cottages
- Easter Vintage Festival
Winners (tied)
- Bestbrook Mountain Resort
- Ballandean Estate Wines
The two winning tourism operators will each receive $1200 mentoring to assist their business.
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A Taste Of South Burnett
A meet’n’greet for forum delegates was held in the forecourt of the Kingaroy Town Hall on Tuesday night featuring food and wines from the South Burnett region.
