The recent 'Season of Sailing' did nothing for Airlie Beach. Of the five or six stories that made it into the press and on to the internet, the Travel Writers never mentioned Airlie Beach.
We had 170 Agents from the USA on Hamilton Island last week and Tourism Whitsundays refused to take them to the mainland. Meridien Marinas managing director Russell McCart made these observations as well in last weeks Whitsunday Times.
Original Story
With all the admissions over the past few months of the critical and dire tourism situation on the mainland, you would think the latest promotional campaign by Tourism Whitsundays would focus on Airlie Beach.
Nope, it was the islands, again.
According to the Queensland Business Review, Wednesday June 23, 2010:
"Tourism Whitsundays and Brisbane Marketing have joined forces with Tourism Australia in a bid to stimulate short-lead business travel to Queensland. "
"Over four days, attendees of the Whitsundays educational sampled accommodation at Daydream Island, Hamilton Island and Hayman Island, experienced team building and incentive offerings from Fantasea Adventure Cruising, Cruise Indigo, Sunsail Yacht Charters and Ocean Dynamics." (full story).
The attention is going offshore, again.
How come Hamilton Island gets the "Best Job in the World" campaign, run by several slick marketing teams and government departments, with a $1.5m budget, and Airlie Beach gets a raffle, run by people who have probably never organized anything more than a chook wheel before? Some of the organizers even had recent 'form' of their marketing skills.
The 'Whitsunday Treasure - Apartment Giveaway' campaign / episode has been so embarrassing that people are requesting not to be associated with it or the people who organized it.
So why are Tourism Whitsundays plugging the islands again, and neglecting Airlie Beach? Maybe you need to catch a ferry to get to the islands?
Tourism Whitsundays has shown over the past several years that it can not promote the coast and hinterland of the Whitsundays, where small to medium sized businesses are doing it tough, but TW is very happy to promote the islands offshore, which are mostly owned by very wealthy families.
There may be a place for Tourism Whitsundays after all, but maybe they should change their name to 'Tourism Whitsunday Islands', and that they move their office offshore or onto a boat as soon as possible.
Further reading:
Ten things you should consider before joining Tourism Whitsundays
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