Domestic Tourism down again - this time 16%

Most of you would know that Hamilton Island has been the host of the winner of the 'Best Job in the World' competition, and those of you in Marketing and Social Media would know of the heavily awarded campaign that has been running over 11 months now.

Hamilton Island, Hayman, Daydream, South Molle, Lindeman, Brampton and Long Islands, Airlie Beach, Proserpine, Bowen and Collinsville (and the area between) make up the Whitsundays Region, between Mackay and Townsville, on the North Queensland coast, Australia.

Tourism numbers to the Whitsundays are still plummeting - there were 16% less Domestic tourists to the Whitsundays for the year ending September 2009. For the 2 years ending July 2009, total Tourism numbers have plummeted 33%.

Tourism numbers in the Whitsundays have been dropping (in a huge way) since 2006, and every time poor results are released, we hear a new excuse for the continuing decline in Visitors.

Here Are The Facts.

• Can't blame the World Financial Crisis - Fraser Coast's tourism numbers went up 14% while the Whitsundays dropped 16% (year to Sept 2009 - source Tourism Australia).
  
  
• Can't blame the Airlines and Flights - Extra daily flights to the Whitsundays were introduced (Virgin Blue introduced direct flights from Sydney on 4 July 2009).
  
  
• Can't blame the Cost of Fuel - Fuel prices dropped 20% over the period July 2008 to July 2009 (source QLD OESR).
  
  
• Can't blame the Weather - it has been 'Beautiful one day, and Perfect the next' almost every day (see BoM, ask any local, or request to view our WeatherCams archive).

Plus, we've had the 'World's Best Job' (WBJ) campaign running for almost a year now - sure, it's won heaps of awards, received lots of exposure, and visits to the website, but has it produced 'bums in beds' for the rest of the Whitsundays? No according to Tourism Australia .

Has the almost 1 year old campaign been successful for villages, regions, areas, and in particular, the "600+ Islands of the Great Barrier Reef"? Except for the privately owned Hamilton Island, it doesn't look like it.

Earlier this week, Tourism Queensland boss, Anthony Hayes, explained the objectives and achievements behind the campaign to mUmBRELLA, as well as providing some numbers about the WBJ campaign.

Some of these numbers are quite interesting and point to some alternative interpretations. 'With respect' to Tim Burton & mUmBRELLA, I will re quote some of Mr Hayes comments. I will refrain from using Spin or Buzz words, when 'Plain English' is what we all understand.

• "Stage One was to introduce the islands to the international travel trade. The aim was to encourage international wholesalers to include Queensland island product in their brochures via trade training, famils, roadshows and web-based marketing. For the first time, we worked with regional tourism organisations and local operators to coordinate marketing activity for the ‘Islands of the Reef’ as a whole. This first stage was successfully implemented over 2008 and we were very happy with the support the wholesalers provided us in terms of new brochure space."

Facts
International Tourism numbers to the Whitsundays have yet to cease declining. For the year ending July 2009, the Whitsundays saw a massive 19% decrease in Tourism numbers. However, Hamilton Island has apparently had its best 12 months ever - UK & Irish visitors up 19% compared to last November - (source Glenn Bourke, CEO of Hamilton Island).

To quote Mr Bourke: "The Best Job in the World campaign has without doubt made a real impact on tourism to the Great Barrier Reef and with a raft of new developments on Hamilton Island we’ve been well placed to take advantage of this." (source Travel Daily UK)

• So the primary goal was to raise consumer awareness of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Tourism Queensland’s key international markets. $400 million in estimated media coverage and 8.6 million web visitors later….tick!

Facts
The 'Find a Winner' part of the WBJ campaign ran from 10 January to 6 May (116 Days), and attracted 35,000 entrants. If the 35,000 entrants visited the website just twice a day to check their status, that makes 8.12 million web visits.

While $400 M has been quoted as media exposure, I have not seen once how this figure was calculated or how it can be substantiated.

• Mumbrella readers, probably more than anyone else, would understand that today’s consumers are placing increasing importance on first-hand reports from other travellers, particularly via online reviews. This is the way of the future, and we identified online interaction as a key part of our consumer communication strategy.

Facts
Mumbrella readers, and I'm sure most other people who know of this campaign, would be smart to enough to know that the winner of the WBJ is getting all his activities, rent, flights, meals etc paid for, plus $150,000 for 6 months blogging and some touring. He is not an ordinary traveller.

• Use media and social networking to promote the campaign and increase awareness of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland. Tick.

Fact
Except for Hamilton Island, extra interest has not been generated around the other islands. The graph shows Worldwide interest in travelling to Australia, and having a holiday on these popular islands in the Great Barrier Reef

You will note the spikes for Hamilton Island when the WBJ Campaign commenced (January), and when the winner was announced (May).

• Stage Three of the strategy, which we are now actively pursuing, is to turn the new level of consumer interest into increased visitor numbers and visitor expenditure. We are now working very closely with a variety of wholesale, retail and airline partners to convert the new level of interest into new visitors.

Fact
What new interest? Just from the one graph above you can tell there has not been a continuing increase in awareness for other popular islands in the Great Barrier Reef besides Hamilton Island. But wait, there's more. Here are Real Time Statistics on people around the World looking to travel to Queensland, to particular Regions, Villages and for Activities, for the past 90 Days and also the past 5 Years.
You will note in those graphs that current interest in travelling to the Great Barrier Reef appears to be at its lowest level, ever. How can you twist these statistics and call it a 'new level of interest'?

Another interpretation of the latest figures is that Australians (and possibly a lot of people around the world) have been 'turned off' from the Whitsundays by the WBJ campaign - could this be a classic Australian reaction called 'Tall Poppy Syndrome'?

And what's with the Ticks? Is that to give an illusion of credibility when facts can not be found? The sooner the Spin Doctors stop believing their own hype and patting themselves on the back and realize there is a serious problem up here, the sooner they can go about fixing this huge problem.

I wonder how many of the Spin Doctors are taking a holiday about now, when they should be working on our serious Tourism issues over Christmas.

Whitsundays Online
Big Thanx to mUmBRELLA
Sourced from mUmBRELLA, Tourism Australia, Travel Daily UK, QLD OESR, Google
Related Articles
13 Nov 2009 - How has the awareness for the rest of QLD been raised by the Campaign?
Oct 14, 2005 - Cummins & Partners picks up Whitsundays business
14 Nov 2009 - Update
Related Story - The writing was on the wall in April 2009
More at Sydney Morning Herald - 'I wish you were here'
Brisbane Times - 'Best job campaign a tourism lemon'
Whitsundays Online - Tourism Trends and Comparisons
CDNN - Tourism QLD's Best Job in the World campaign flops
mUMBRELLA - Best Job's (very long) glory list
Is Queensland 'Best Job in the World' Really the Worst - Jaunted
A perspective of the "World's Best Job" Campaign
Best job in the world? Not if you're vision-impaired