Thursday, May 13, 2010

Airlie Beach Apartment give away competition collapses

The collapse of the very heavily promoted 'Whitsunday Treasure' marketing campaign (download prospectus here) highlights again the question of Tourism Whitsundays' ability to responsibly market and lobby on behalf of this beautiful region, who's once much envied tourism industry is now at "crisis point".

The "Whitsunday Treasure" campaign is the fourth major tourism marketing initiative by persons either employed or on the board of Tourism Whitsundays, to collapse in as many months.

The "Whitsunday Treasure" campaign was titled as: ‘Win the best address in the World’, and was to "best exploit the proven reliability of a loyalty campaign in tandem with innovative marketing and communications opportunities", and giving customers "the chance to win a $500,000 fully furnished luxury apartment package".

The project was a good idea, however the 'finger has been pointed' at Cyclone Ului as the main reason for its demise.

Maybe "the forest can not be seen because of the 'fallen' trees" - could the lack of support for the Whitsunday Treasure campaign be also the same reason for the small membership in Tourism Whitsundays?

The organizers of the Whitsunday Treasure project were:
Christie Leet - member, Tourism Whitsundays
Lyn Gregson - ex Chaiperson, Tourism Whitsundays
Mark Bell - ex Director, Tourism Whitsundays
John Nayler - Director, Tourism Whitsundays
Jackie Maxwell -investor & experienced fundraiser
Kelli Medford - Director, Tourism Whitsundays
Jo Sweeney - member, Tourism Whitsundays
Tracey Oates

The Chairman of Tourism Whitsundays said last year that there would be some 'cleaning out' within his organization, which gave some people hope, however this has not happened - from the 'outside', it seems to be 'more of the same'.

Maybe Mr Jacobs, and the community now see a pattern of recurring names and failed campaigns. A radical 'sweep out' within Tourism Whitsundays may see a radical change in membership numbers, support and a positive direction for this regions prosperity.



Footnote: People searching the internet for travel information about Airlie Beach hit a new all time low around 20 April.

Sources:
Article from Whitsunday Times
Whitsunday Treasure prospectus
Whitsundays Internet Tourism Trends 

info@whitsundaysonline.net

3 comments:

Danielle Seymour said...

It would be appreciated if you would remove my name as an 'organiser' of this campaign. I attended about 3 meetings as a volunteer to help on the campaign but ceased involvement months ago.
Danielle Seymour

WhitsundaysOnline.Net said...

I have taken in your request, however, I feel if you were there for three meetings, then you were also involved.
You also had your name printed in the paper. If you can show me a letter of request of retraction to the Whitsunday Times, then I will be more than happy to adjust this.
Otherwise, it will appear you are attempting to distance yourself 'after the fact'.
This community needs people to stand up and take responsibility for their actions, especially the ones trying to attract media attention.
Honestly, I think 3 meetings means you were involved. It only took 2 meetings at Tourism Whitsundays functions for me to know it was not a group I wanted to be associated with.
jd

WhitsundaysOnline.Net said...

According to the 'Official Prosepcetus', these people were the organisers of the failed Airlie Beach Apartment Give Away:

Karen McNally – Promotions Coordinator
Kym Daff - Promotions
Seamus Mee – Marketing Coordinator.
Christie Leet, PRD
Lyn Gregson, Adelyn Retail
Mark Bell, Airlie Beach Hotel
John Nayler, Channel Whitsunday
Jackie Maxwell
Kelli Medford, Boathaven Spa Resort
Jo Sweeney, Zest
Tracey Oates, PRD
Danielle Seymour, Tourism Whitsundays.

If Danielle's claim is she was not part of the group, then the prospectus was misleading, and opens up the possibility of further investigation by the authorities.

It is also interesting to note that one of the people in this committee won the 'Tourism Marketing Award' recently from Tourism Whitsundays (there were no other contenders for that award).