Cave Paintings found near Hamilton Island

A cave with drawings that could be thousands of years old, has been found in one of Australia's busiest waterways.

The cave was discovered by an Airlie Beach local and is on an island in the Whitsunday Passage. The local stumbled on to the cave a couple of days ago and immediately recognized the significance of his discovery. After taking a few photos, he left the cave undisturbed.

Local Elders and personnel from National Parks will be inspecting the site next Tuesday.

Out of respect for our traditional owners, we will not be disclosing the location, or releasing the photos, until we get the OK from the Elders.

ed: Goes to show you that the Whitsundays has still a lot of places where no 'European' has gone before.

Disclosure Laws for Testimonials & Endorsements

New laws in the USA that come into force tomorrow will impact everyone who use Twitter, Facebook and MySpace and other Social Media services.

So why would these new laws have anything to do with us here in the Whitsundays and the rest of Australia? The 3 main reasons are:

1. Anyone posting to a service that has its servers (computers) based in the USA, must abide by these new Disclosure laws. The Big 3 of Social Networking are all based in California, USA - Twitter is based in San Francisco; FaceBook is based in Palo Alto, and MySpace is based in Los Angeles.

2. Any business that trades using a US based web host is deemed to be trading from within the USA. The fact that the website owner may be a foreign resident does not excuse her/him from the laws of the United States.

3. The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) entered into force on 1 January 2005. AUSFTA is a comprehensive agreement that includes telecommunications, competition-related matters, electronic commerce and intellectual property rights. Full text of the Agreement .

This is a good thing for consumers. While most webmasters are honest and sincerely present their products and services in their true form, some website developers and owners have been unethical with their marketing efforts. The new disclosure laws are designed to protect consumers from fraudulent practices, and those people who condone them, and to upgrade unethical practices from being 'a white lie' to an offence.

The goal of the new Laws are to keep marketers and website developers honest, which might seem like an easy task, but it's not that easy because we all have different ideas of what constitutes the whole truth in various situations, and in some marketing situations, it's literally impossible to know the whole truth or which truth to communicate where more than one truth is possible.

An excellent example of seeing two (2) sides to a Marketing story is our ongoing series on 'The Best Job in the World' campaign:
Do the Whitsundays deserve to hear both sides of a story?
Has the 'Worlds Best Job' increased awareness in your part of QLD?
Even the 'Best Idea in the World' can fail


"You must be transparent about your relationship with people providing endorsements or testimonials."

"Website Developers are subject to liability for false or unsubstantiated statements made through endorsements, or for failing to disclose material connections between themselves and their endorsers. Endorsers also may be liable for statements made in the course of their endorsements. The new laws require people who are known by the website developer and are endorsing their products to disclose the nature of the relationship."

"If there is a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) - even in-kind compensation -then you must "fully" disclose the nature of the connection."
(Kevin E. Houchin - Lawyer and Author, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA ).

Let us look at an example of what will probably be illegal as from tomorrow.

The Facebook page for Boathaven Spa and Resort in Airlie Beach has some interesting 'reviews'. Boathaven Spa and Resort is part-owned by Kellie Medford, a Director of Tourism Whitsundays (TW), the semi-government Regional Tourism Organization (RTO) for the Whitsundays (Airlie Beach, Hamilton Island etc...); TW comes under the umbrella of Tourism Queensland.

Ms Medford claims to be the 'creator' of the Boathaven Spa and Resort's FaceBook page, where there are eight (8) referrals over the last eight (8) months.

The very first 'experience sharer' is a Lyn Gregson, who writes on March 23, 2009: Lyn Gregson "I have stayed at Boarhaven(sic) Spa & Resort and so have some of my staff, the accomodation(sic) is great and the location so convenient, I would recommend this property"

Seems innocent enough?

Well, this is why the new Disclosure and Transparency laws are coming in. Ms Gregson, who wrote the 'review', lives in Airlie Beach. At the time of writing the 'review', she was a Director and Chairperson of Tourism Whitsundays, of which Ms Medford is now a director of.

Ms Medford has a friendship with Ms Gregson, as you can tell from the first 'Friend' in her Facebook page. Ms Medford also displayed her friendship with Ms Gregson publicly recently, by defending her with correspondence sent to myself.

Ms Gregson in her 'review' allegedly fails to be transparent by not disclosing to you about her relationship with Ms Medford, that she actually lives in Airlie Beach, and that she was also Chairperson of Tourism Whitsundays.

A 'Megan' (no longer registered on Facebook) gave a glowing (and the longest) account of her stay at the 'resort' on March 28.

On March 27 2009 at 11.17am, Jackie Maxwell wrote: "What a place to stay. If you ever get the chance - you should."
However, Ms Maxwell fails to say that she too lives in Airlie Beach, and has a personal friendship with not only Ms Medford, but also Ms Gregson (see 'Friends of Jackie Maxwell's Facebook page).

On March 31 at 5:40am Anne McDonald, a neighbour wrote: "Hi I have not stayed at Boathaven resort but I live 2 doors away and I know people that have and like me the location is fantastic - opposite the new Port of Airlie - ok not finished yet - so if you have the opportunity to stay - call Kelli. Anne"

As Ms McDonald has pointed out, across the road from Boathaven Spa and Resort is the huge 'Port of Airlie' construction site. To put the size of this construction into perspective, I have included some stories from our local paper, the ABC, and the latest image from Google Earth - Boathaven Spa and Resort is shaded in yellow.

Hours changed at Port of Airlie | News -

Whitsunday Times - Jul 11, 2008
CONSTRUCTION hours on the Port of Airlie development have been changed following community concern about noise levels. Apartment owners and managers last ...

Port of Airlie noise respite looms

ABC Regional Online - ABC Regional Online - Sep 8, 2008
The developers of the Port of Airlie project says tourist operators will be given a break from noisy construction this school holidays. ...

While not all the Directors and Members of Tourism Whitsundays have colourful and creative descriptions of their private business concerns, Ms Gregson and Ms Medford are not alone. Other Directors of Tourism Whitsundays have had comments on public websites removed, because, well, they allegedly weren't thruthful.

One day, maybe, everyone will play by the rules on a level playing ground. The new FTC laws coming into effect tomorrow are a good start.

Whitsundays Online

You can complain about the behaviour of a Tourism Whitsundays member. Apparently, a TW member will be dismissed if they have failed to abide by TW Rules three (3) times. The TW website says it has a form for complaints, but I couldnt find it. Try contacting them direct.

I found at least four (4) sites on Facebook connected to Boathaven Spa and Resort".
Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4

Sourced from:
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
United States Federal Trade Commission
Image from Whitsunday Times, October 1 2009, Front page.
Satellite image from Google Earth
Kevin E. Houchin - Lawyer and Author, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
joelcomm.com

Do the Whitsundays deserve to hear both sides of a story?

Whitsundays Online

@BenSouthall to @QLDWhitsundays
why are you always the bearer of doom and gloom?! The job is flippin awesome and I love it! Enjoy your day ok :)

Twitter message to me from 'Best Job in the World' winner / Hamilton Island Caretaker; Saturday 14 Nov 2009.

Good question Ben.

Prior to starting this Blog / News service, the news to and from the Whitsundays from the most popular media, appeared to be biased towards Tourism Whitsundays - in some articles, you could say the stories were 'very colourful and creative'.

After several years of reading and listening to the local media, I wondered why there was clearly some exaggeration in some articles and stories about TW and TW run events, so I did some digging around and found out why.

Almost every media outlet that services the Whitsundays was/is either on the board of directors of Tourism Whitsundays, or is a Member, or is supplying cheap advertising to TW and its 230 or so members.

There also appeared to be no attempt by these media services to alert the public that they have a vested interest in Tourism Whitsundays when reporting on Tourism Whitsundays news and events, or on a TW members own business.

In the Whitsundays, we have 3 weekly local papers. Two out of the 3 are heavily involved in TW:
The Guardian (Proserpine - one of the last truly independent papers);
Whitsunday Times (Coast and Islands - controlled by APN; Member of TW, MD of paper Director of TW until resigning very quietly a few months ago).
The Bowen Independent (Member of TW).

We also get 2 regional dailies. Both of these papers are linked back to Tourism Whitsundays:
The Townsville Bulletin (News Ltd - your sponsors through Sky);
The Mackay Daily Mercury (Associated with TW through Whitsunday Times).

We also have 2 TV News Bureaus within 150km of here, in Mackay. 1 of these is heavily involved in TW:
Prime - 7 Network (Member of TW);
WIN - 9 Network.

Tourism Whitsundays has also ensured it gets a favourable voice on almost all the commercial Radio stations:
SEA FM (Member of TW);
HOT FM (Member of TW);
4MK (Member of TW through Prime)
Zinc FM (Member of TW through Prime)

Thank goodness for the ABC.

This concentration of media sending out only one voice and opinion on Tourism Whitsundays events or news (TW's) reminded me of the old communist days, where only good stories were told, and all the bad ones were hushed up. (Your sponsors owner, Rupert Murdoch, I expect will be one of the first people to stand up and support a free press and 2nd, 3rd and more opinions.)

How would it be if our media here acted 'full on tourism mode' to every event and only reported 'the good news'? We would not be warned of impending Tsunami, Cyclone, Floods or Fires, because sending out news like that 'will turn the tourists away'.

In addition, I have never seen any of the media outlets that are involved with TW put in a disclaimer when they have reported on a TW event - leaving out this very important part of the story (aka conflict of interest) can mislead people into thinking that the story was reported by someone as a neutral observer, not as a business associate.

Behaviour like this is not dissimilar to getting paid to write a favourable review and not telling anyone - 'Cash for Comment'. It is unprofessional and unethical.

Your very important question today reminded me why I actually set this blog up in the first place - to present the other side of the story. No, I am not really the bearer of 'Doom & Gloom', but as I seem to be the one of the few who reports the stories that don't make it, then it may appear that all I am spreading is bad news.

Thanks for your question today - it has helped me realize that there may be some shortcomings in our local media, and that there may be a need to look at how cosy their relationships are with local organizations. I will ask a third party that specializes in these matters to consider looking at the media situation here a bit closer.

Ben, I'm sure it's a great job, and anyone in the world would have been proud to have won it; I have respect for the person, but I have trouble finding respect for the concept.

\Worlds Best Job increased awareness in your region?

Whitsundays Online

Latest Online Realtime Trends here

Our story on the effectiveness of 'The Best Job in the World' (WBJ) campaign was read widely (many thanks to Mumbrella and others), not only amongst the advertising and marketing spin doctors, but also within the tourism and government departments here and around Australia and the world.

Cummins & Nitro invented the WBJ campaign in mid to late 2008, and released 'the beast' in mid January 2009. Since then, the campaign has won countless Australian and International awards, and of course the exposure that follows these awards.

My piece this week was critical that the campaign, while extremely successful getting 'pats on the back' from other marketing people, did not appear to be increasing awareness of the region outside of Hamilton Island. This 'awareness' can be gauged by looking at what people are searching for at Google.

The following charts detail:
*People around the world looking for Vacation / Travel information in Australia by location;
*The data is over 5 years;
*Compares interest in Hamilton Island to other popular QLD destinations;
*The most popular countries from where these surfers are from;
*Click each chart to blow up and/or print.

Here is how WWW interest in Hamilton Island has compared to other Whitsundays destinations:

This chart compares WWW interest in Hamilton Island to other well known Tropical North destinations Cooktown, Port Douglas, Cairns and Townsville:

This chart compares WWW interest in Hamilton Island to Mackay, Brampton Island, Yeppoon and Great Keppel Island:

WWW interest in Hamilton Island compared to Bundaberg, Fraser Coast, Hervey Bay and Sunshine Coast:

This chart compares WWW interest in Hamilton Island to Toowoomba, Dalby and Birdsville:


WWW interest in Hamilton Island compared to Emerald, Longreach, Winton and Mt Isa:


WWW interest in Hamilton Island compared to Kuranda, Charters Towers, Rockhampton and Childers:


WWW interest in Hamilton Island compared to Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast and Hinterland:


WWW interest in Hamilton Island compared to Great Barrier Reef, Whitsunday, Whitsundays and Queensland:
The 'Next Best Idea in the World' of tourism marketing appears to be a shopping spree. Our last graph shows people around the world looking to spend time in Australia at Resorts, Sailing, Diving, and doing Shopping:

Chalco postpones Bowen Alumina Refinery indefinitely

Whitsundays Online

Chalco has postponed its decision on the A$2.2 billion alumina refinery in Bowen because there is still uncertainty in the market, The Australian and Bloomberg are reporting, citing the company.

The decision on developing the Bowen refinery was due last month, and now won’t be made this year, the The Australian said, citing Dan Foo, head of the Aurukun Bauxite mine study, the feeder to the refinery.

The Australian quoted Mr Foo; "It may take some years for the alumina market to recover to levels it was at before the global financial crisis."

So, will this have an effect on the 'going price' of the Abbot Point Terminal?

Sourced from Bloomberg and The Australian
Map

Even the 'Best Idea in the World' can fail

Whitsundays Online

Great ideas have come and gone over history - some have gone on to improve mankind; others to make life simpler or more complicated; and others we thought were sure to succeed, but just didn't live up to expectations.

The current Queensland Tourism campaign, 'The World's Best Job' (WBJ), has won almost every award for Marketing and Advertising, in Australia and Overseas. The other big winner has been Hamilton Island, owned by the Oatley Family. However, the results have yet to bear fruit for the rest of 'The Big Island' (the Whitsundays and Queensland).

Media reports out today are calling the WBJ campaign '... a Tourism Lemon' (Brisbane Times), and 'Best Job Campaign Fails ...' (Sydney Morning Herald). Google have an excellent statistics service that lets you see how people around the world have searched in the past, so I thought a bit more research into the 'old media' claims was required.

The WBJ campaign has been running for 1 month shy of a year, and while it has been successful in raising awareness of an island in the middle of the Whitsundays, that awareness seems to have 'missed the boat' to the mainland and other islands.

The following graph shows people around the world looking for News Articles' about Hamilton Island, Whitsunday & Whitsundays for 2008-2009 - note the spike when the World's Best Job (WBJ) was announced:
The most well known spot on the mainland in the Whitsundays is Airlie Beach. The following graph compares 'Searches for News Articles' about Hamilton Island & Airlie Beach for 2008-2009:
It is quite obvious from the above 2 graphs, that while interest in Hamilton Island has soared, there has been no noticeable increase in interest in Airlie Beach or the rest of the Whitsundays.

The above results looked 'way over the top', so I thought I should check how many people were looking for information (rather than news). The following graph shows people around the world looking for information about Hamilton Island, Whitsunday & Whitsundays for 2009:


The following graph compares people around the world looking for information about Hamilton Island & Airlie Beach for 2009:The above graphs again show interest in Hamilton Island because of WBJ, but no apparent increase in interest in the rest of the Whitsundays.

The above graphs show a trend that tourism numbers in the Whitsundays (except Hamilton Island) are probably not going to improve for the next 12 months. This can be corroborated by the following graph:
The Whitsundays experienced a drop in tourism numbers of 33% from July 2007 to July 2009. The above graph shows people searching for information about Whitsunday and Whitsundays over the past 5 years - it seems to closely predict tourism numbers to the Whitsundays about 1 year in advance.

It is quite obvious that from mid 2006 that we were about to experience a prolonged downturn in visitor numbers. The WBJ campaign, while not increasing interest in our region, appears to have at least stopped the slide downwards'.

Note - the bottom of the last graph also shows 'News Volume' - this is how many news agencies reported an event. You may notice the largest spike in May 2008 - this was when 2 UK divers were left out at the Reef. 3 times more news agencies picked up on that event than have covered the WBJ. If the publicity surrounding the WBJ is worth around $380 million, then theoretically, OzSail leaving 2 divers out at the reef cost us over $1 Billion dollars in bad publicity (they were fined $30,000).

So, why did the 'Best Job in the World' campaign win all those awards, when there appears to be no benefit for the rest of the Whitsundays, and probably Queensland?

Great campaigns and commercials have won awards in the past and failed to produce results, and once again the marketing people will surely come back tomorrow and say the WBJ Campaign has won 'so many of these' awards.

Sure, a unique marketing idea or campaign can be great, but isn't it also supposed to be successful?

MORE INFO & UPDATES
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

Push for Daily Morning flight to Brisbane

Whitsundays Online

Tourism Whitsundays is about to start lobbying the airlines for a daily morning flight in and out of the Whitsundays.

Currently, Proserpine (Whitsunday Coast) is serviced by 2 daily flights to and from Brisbane: Virgin Blue arrives at 2.20pm and Jetstar at 6.20pm.

Anyone wishing to travel to Brisbane in the morning must drive 2 hours to Mackay to catch the 6am prop-jet, which means having to get up at around 3.00am, and then setting off along the Bruce Highway before dawn.

Tourism Whitsundays will commence surveying passengers to see if there is a strong case for a morning flight in and out of the Whitsundays.

An interesting concept would be a morning flight from Proserpine to Brisbane, maybe via Hamilton Island. (Rex currently do a similar route on the NSW South Coast with their Moruya - Merimbula - Sydney service).

We pre-empted Tourism Whitsundays' intentions several weeks ago and asked the 'newcomer' airline to Mackay, Regional Express (Rex), if they were considering services to Proserpine, especially a morning commuter flight.

On 16 October this year, Charlene Liang of Rex's Corporate Communications Team said "There are no network expansion plans currently being considered and this will be assessed further during 2009/2010 along with a number of commercial and economic considerations. The global economic landscape is extremely volatile and Rex is therefore exercising some cautious conservatism at the present time."

ed: I have to agree with Peter O'Reilly that driving 2 hours, firstly in darkness, then straight into a rising sun, is not a smart or safe way to do business in Brisbane or interstate, but we have no other option except to leave the night before. I personally have done this 'run' about a dozen times, and have missed the flights several times due to either hitting a kangaroo, or the road closed due to a serious accident or floods.

Sourced from ABC North QLD News - Melissa Maddison

ACA slams Wicked Campers for safety standards

Whitsundays Online

Wicked Campers' reliability and safety record is not too good according to the Nine Network's 'A Current Affair'.

The current affairs program reported on several incidents involving Wicked Campers, and interviewed several people who had accidents in the vehicles.

The program also rented 3 Wicked Campers and had RACQ (our Auto Association) go over them - the results were not too good.


Images and Video sourced from A Current Affair, Nine Network Australia
Story found through thUMBRELLA

Lack of entries in Tourism Awards leaves 8 trophies uncollected.

Airlie Beach has been synonymous with Backpackers for several decades. Who would have guessed a couple of years ago that the 'Tourism Whitsundays Backpackers Accommodation Award' would not be given out this year - because no one entered for the Award.

It is amazing that the Whitsundays can go from Backpacker Heaven, to a Backpacker Desert in just a few years, yet according to the results from the recent Tourism Whitsundays Awards, it has happened.

The top category, 'Best Major Attraction' was also not won.

There were 6 other Tourism Whitsundays Awards left on the presentation table (most were given out last Friday) that failed to even draw an entrant, because of either lack of membership numbers, or lack of interest.

According to Tourism Whitsundays, there was no one worthy this year of receiving the following awards:


1 : Major Attractions
6 : Heritage and Culture
7 : Indigenous Tourism
9 : Visitor Information Services
10: Meetings and Business Tourism
14: Tourism Marketing
17: Tourism Wineries and Boutique Breweries
19: Backpacker Accommodation


Don't Panic. The Whitsundays has not turned in to a ghost town all of a sudden.

The Tourism Whitsundays Awards are only given out to paying members of Tourism Whitsundays. Tourism Whitsundays membership has been plummeting for the past 3 years; testament to this is the lack of entrants for these major awards.

While no award for best Backpackers Accommodation was given out, there are a half a dozen or so backpackers in Airlie Beach alone, and we believe they try their hardest to make their guests comfortable.

The lack of a winner for the 'Major Attraction' Award is odd - what happened to the Great Barrier Reef, Whitehaven Beach, and the Islands all of a sudden? (Maybe some guests going out there today can report back to us and confirm that they are still there - ed)

The Tourism Marketing Award was understandably not won, especially as tourism numbers to the Whitsundays have fallen 33% in the last 2 years.

Awards that went uncontested as there was only one entrant were:

12: Tour and/or Transport Operator : Ocean Dynamics
15: Tourism Education and Training : Hamilton Island Enterprises
18: Tourist and Caravan Park : Discovery Holiday Park, Bowen
20: Hosted Accommodation : Waterfront Whitsunday Retreat
21: Unique Accommodation : Fantasea ReefSleep
24: Luxury Accommodation : Qualia, Hamilton Island
26: Excellence in Sustainable Tourism : Paradise Bay
27: Outstanding Contribution by a Volunteer or Group : Rotary
29: Outstanding contribution by an individual : Mark Bell
30: Not for Profit Group : Rotary

Over 55% (18/32) of the Awards either had no entries or only 1 entrant.

Debate on thUMBRELLA
Full list of all Tourism Whitsundays Award Winners

Whitsundays Online

Tourism Whitsundays director admits "Lack of Unity"

This letter was sent by a new director of Tourism Whitsundays, Kelli Medford. It is presented here in it's entirety. This correspondence was in reply to our story of the premature resignation of the Chair of Tourism Whitsundays last month.


"That is the most biased and inaccurate reporting I have ever read1. So you are solely basing the reason for the drop in tourism to the region on one person, Lyn Gregson2. So it has nothing to due(sic) with the drop in flight numbers3, economy4, massive weather patterns5, lack of unity amongst operators6?? It's purely just Lyn Gregson's fault7. What an idiot8!! She has done more for this region and for tourism than any other one person I can think of9 in the 13 years I have been in this town10. If you don't know the facts or can't bring yourself to research11 then dont call yourself a journalis(sic)12 or even a blogger - your(sic) not qualified13."


My response.

1 Well, that's your opinion.

2 No. But the Chair is supposed to be in charge, ie: The Buck Stops Here. Credibility also comes into play - (see bottom).

3 Of course flight numbers have played a major part in the drop in tourism numbers. But it is also one of Tourism Whitsundays responsibilities to lobby the airline companies to retain our air services here. During Ms Gregson's reign, we lost all direct flights from Proserpine to Sydney, by both Jetstar and Virgin Blue.

4 The WFC (World Financial Crisis) has certainly made an impact on tourism, not only in the Whitsundays, but all around the world. However, the WFC started in August 2008. You can not use this excuse for why visitor numbers dropped 17% in the year prior, from July 2007 to July 2008, during The Boom. If you look at the statistics closely, it appears that the WFC only contributed to 2% of the 19% drop in tourism numbers, going on form.

5 The wettest months ever on Hamilton Island were back in 1991 (Jan & Feb), however Proserpine did have its wettest February in 2008.

6 A good leader brings people together.

7 "It's purely Lyn Gregson's fault." You are saying that, not me. I am saying that TW is at fault, and that Lyn Gregson is responsible for the actions of TW's management and other directors. Again, the buck stops there.

8 I don't think I will sink to your level and comment on that.

9 She may have. Some people are good leaders, and some should be followers.

10 Apparently the paper says you lived on Daydream Island for 6 years, then you moved to the mainland, yet you say you have lived in town for 13 years? I lived on Hamilton Island for over 4 years, plus have been in town over 5 years.

11 Actually I did plenty of research. My sources were the Whitsunday Times, Courier Mail, Cairns Post, ABC, Google, Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Government, Queensland Government, and your Facebook sites, just off the top of my head.

12 Your statement is a lie. I have never called myself a journalist. I have been employed or associated with the media since 1978.

13 Another interesting comment that is not worthy of a reply.


Good, honest comments by good, honest people are always welcome here. I have decided to publish the above comments by Ms Medford, as an example of character.

While compiling my research, I happened to come across a Facebook page called 'I Stayed at Boathaven Spa and Resort', edited by Ms Medford. If you go to the website now, you will see that the site has been edited in the last couple of days.

I happened upon the site and uploaded it before it was edited; then it showed that it had not been updated for 6 months. All the friends, (bar Ms Medford) have now also been deleted.

However, before the editing was this very interesting entry: This is the Lyn Gregson we have been referring to in this article. Ms Gregson, (at the time of the comment on the left), was Chairperson of Tourism Whitsundays, and she lives in Airlie Beach.

Did she and her staff really pay and stay at Boathaven Spa and Resort? Is this ethical and moral?

This is an interesting story in itself - more soon.

No Mobile Phone Disaster service for the Whitsundays

ABC - Murray Cornish

Whitsunday Council says it cannot afford to follow Townsville and introduce a mobile phone message disaster warning system.

Mayor Mike Brunker says it is a luxury that would be hard to justify for Whitsunday council.

"In our cyclone and flooding situations we certainly need eight to 10 to 12 hours warning and that's what we work on," he said.

"So we wouldn't be requiring to alert one hour before a disaster's hitting that they have to evacuate - it's done on a lot longer time frame than that."

ABC - Murray Cornish - Full Story

Backpacker travel agents under fire for incorrect pricing

DynamicBusiness.com - Jessica Stanic

Three backpacker travel agents (2 with branches in Airlie Beach*) have come under fire from the ACCC for breaching the new component pricing laws in their advertising.

According to the ACCC,
Wicked Travel,
Peter Pan’s Adventure Travel*
and Adventure Travel Bugs*
published advertisements that did not comply with the new requirements.

The ACCC stated that some of these businesses advertised tours to the Whitsundays and Fraser Island for as little as $299, when that price did not include mandatory charges that consumers had to pay, including insurance, national park fees, the Great Barrier Reef environmental charge and administration fees, taking the total price of the tour to approximately $450.

Full Story at DynamicBusiness.com - Jessica Stanic

Chairperson to resign mid term

A reply by new Director Kelli Medford has been received by us and will be posted here shortly - the delays in posting this correspondence have been due to the need to verify some of the comments.

Whitsundays Online

Lyn Gregson, Chairperson of Tourism Whitsundays, has unexpectedly resigned from the Regional Tourism organization.

While several other directors of Tourism Whitsundays are also resigning at this years AGM, these directors terms have expired, plus they gave plenty of notice of their decision not to re apply. (Jim Sherrington, Manager of the Whitsundays Times, resigned as a Director of Tourism Whitsundays a few months ago).

Up until as late as Tuesday, Ms Gregson led the good folk of the Whitsundays to believe that she was going to complete her full term as a director and Chairperson.

However, yesterday, Ms Gregson announced that she had changed her mind and had now decided to resign from the Board of Directors all together.

The difference between Ms Gregson's resignation and the other directors is that Ms Gregson is not fulfilling her 2 year obligation to Tourism Whitsundays, and is resigning mid term - 1 year prematurely.

According to the story in this week's Whitsunday Times, Ms Gregson says she is leaving Tourism Whitsundays to concentrate more on her business, Adelyn Retail Consultancy**.

However, the story fails to tell us that Ms Gregson was in charge of Tourism Whitsundays during the time it performed at its worse.

Lyn Gregson, as Chairperson, presided over:
The largest fall in tourism numbers to the Whitsundays region, ever*;
Was in charge of the organization when over $350,000 was stolen from it internally.

*Domestic visitor numbers to the Whitsunday grew 8.2% per annum between the years March 2002 and March 2006 (source: Whitsunday Times 6 Oct 2006). Between July 2007 and July 2009, total visitor numbers to the Whitsundays plunged 33%.

Despite millions and millions of dollars spent on 'Expos', Overseas Trips, Dinners, Events, Advertising, Publicity and Stunts, during the Chairpersons tenure, we have seen tourism numbers to the Whitsundays plummet to levels not seen since the beginning of the century.

** Adelyn Retail are these shops:
Ridgy Didge Australiana - Airlie Beach
Beachworx - Airlie Beach
Jewl - Airlie Beach
Moochas Boutique - Cannonvale
Swim Swim Swim - Airlie Beach

Sourced partially from Whitsunday Times

Tourism numbers in the Whitsundays plunge 33% in just 2 years

Whitsundays Online
UPDATED 9am Friday 18 Sep 2009

Tourist numbers to the Whitsundays have plunged 1/3 since July 2007.

According to the National Visitor Survey, tourist numbers to the Whitsundays during the Financial Year of 2008-9 fell 19% on the previous year.

However, not many realize that in the previous Financial year of 2007-8, visitors to our region also plunged 17% on the 2006-7 numbers.

That means only 67% of visitors in 2008-9 compared to 2006-7, or a massive 33% loss of tourism visitors and business.

Last year, Tourism Whitsundays blamed the weather at the beginning of *2008 for the bad figures, yet Danielle Seymour of Tourism Whitsundays said "things were looking good for this (2008-9) year's summer rush." (*editor - no rain records were broken during that period).

This year, Peter O'Reilly (CEO of Tourism Whitsundays), says a survey which also counts the drive market will be rolled out over the next four to six months.

"How many people are driving, say, from Cairns to the Whitsundays and flying out? There's a lot of that information that we don't have," he said. (editor - me thinks not many when it costs around an extra $3-400 for a one way car rental to Airlie Beach due to the relocation/recovery fees).

Our local RTO, Tourism Whitsundays, in the past 12 months, has seen a massive fraud, arrest and conviction of one of its Managers; been shown to make poor planning decisions, and now, the biggest plunge in tourism numbers, ever.

I wonder if the arrow on the tacky billboard on Shute Harbour Road at Flametree will be adjusted, downwards?

Some of Tourism Whitsundays Directors have applied for re-election this coming Thursday - they are:

Chris Jacobs - Cruise Whitsundays
Nicole Graham - Sundowner Cruises
David Stielow - Cruise Indigo

Others have decided not to continue on the Board all together. They are:

Susan Boyd - Infront Communications
John Bush - Beaches Backpackers
Andrew Parle - Tourism Queensland

Members of the board who are not up for re-election, and have not resigned, are:

Lyn Gregson - Adelyn Retail** - Chairperson (LATE NEWS - according to 24 Sept 2009 Whitsunday Times, Lyn Gregson will be resigning tonight at the TW AGM).
Al Grundy - Southern Cross Sailing
Jeff Aquilina - Coral Sea Resort - Treasurer
Adrian Bram - Oz Adventure Sailing
John Nayler - Telstra / channelwhitsunday.com
Jan Clifford - Whitsunday Council

Jim Sherington, the General Manager of the Whitsunday Times, is still a director of Tourism Whitsundays, (according to the Tourism Whitsundays website) however he has advised that he resigned several months ago. Apparently, the TW website is out of date.

Why the Treasurer hasn't resigned after the fraud within Tourism Whitsundays was uncovered is not known. This is another good example of how the Directors of Tourism Whitsundays refuse to take responsibility for problems, but quite happy to take the credit for the few successes.

** Adelyn Retail are these shops:
Ridgy Didge Australiana - Airlie Beach
Beachworx - Airlie Beach
Jewl - Airlie Beach
Moochas Boutique - Cannonvale
Swim Swim Swim - Airlie Beach
What do you think of the 'vibe' of the Whitsundays? Take our poll on how you interpreted our events and issues.
Whitsundays Tourism Trends - graph: Worldwide interest in the Whitsundays via Google.
Sourced from ABC News | Courier Mail - Torny Jensen | Whitsunday Times
Has the World's Best Job campaign been succesful for the Whitsundays? 25 Apr 2009 Whitsundays Online.

The Inaugural TWIT's

Whitsundays Incongruous Awards.

Voting has now begun in the inaugural Whitsundays Incongruous* Awards. People from outside our region are more than welcome to participate, as you normally only hear of the best and the 'not so good' from our region.

As these are the inaugural TWITS, we accepted events and instances for the years of 2008 - 2009.

The Whitsundays Incongruous Trophies TWIT's

The categories are:


BIG TWIT
PLANNING
PR
FRAUD
DISCLOSURE
TOURS
ACCOMMODATION
EVENTS
DEVELOPMENT

Voting results are posted in real time, so you can see how it progresses over the voting period.

Go to each of the Twit categories and then submit your vote. All 'Other' incidences submitted must be able to be proven.

Voting concludes at midday, Friday 9 October, 2009.

* Incongruous : /inkonggrooss/ • adjective 'out of place'. Oxford Dictionaries