The Whitsundays Tourism Opportunity Plan - Tourism Queensland

1 Context
Tongue Bay, Whitsunday Island
1.1 What is a Tourism Opportunity Plan?
The purpose of this Tourism Opportunity Plan (TOP) is to provide
direction for the sustainable development of tourism in The
Whitsundays region over the next five to ten years.
The TOP aims to:
Identify new and upgraded tourism product that meets future
visitor expectations and demands;
Identify the need for new investment in infrastructure that
supports the ongoing development of tourism;
Provide relevant research based information on tourism supply
and demand; and
Provide an agreed focus and mechanisms for engagement
with the tourism industry, infrastructure providers and private
investors.
The Queensland Government held the inaugural DestinationQ
forum in Cairns on 25 and 26 June 2012. The forum provided an
opportunity for more than 300 tourism industry representatives to
contribute to the policy direction of the Queensland Government.
The forum culminated in the development of a Partnership
Agreement between industry and government. A key element of the
Partnership Agreement included the recognition that both industry
and government must work together cooperatively, and contribute
jointly, to achieving the Tourism 2020 goals. This principle will also
apply to the projects outlined in this TOP. This will require that
industry, and federal, state and local governments all play a role in
delivering these projects.
The audience of the TOP includes Local, State and Federal
Government agencies, regional economic development agencies,
Regional and Local Tourism Organisations, investors and
developers and tourism industry operators.
The development of the original RTIIP was based on extensive
research as well as consultation with a diverse range of regional
and external stakeholders including government agencies, tourism
industry, tourism stakeholders, developers and investors. Hundreds
of stakeholders were consulted throughout this project, through
one-on-one interviews, attending council meetings and hosting
interactive stakeholder forums. The update of this plan to a TOP in
2012, involved consultation with key stakeholders the Queensland
State Government, Whitsunday Regional Council, Whitsundays
Marketing and Development, Regional Development Australia
Mackay Whitsunday Issac (RDA) and industry leaders.
The TOP provides a platform which focuses specifically on tourism
product, investment and infrastructure needs that are critical to the
future growth and development of tourism in the region.
1.2 The Region
The Whitsundays region is supported by its own regional tourism
organisation (RTO) 2 and by its own Destination Tourism Strategy
(DTS) 3 .
The Whitsundays Destination Tourism Strategy, in articulating the
agreed tourism direction for the destination, provides the strategic
platform for:
Guiding Tourism Queensland, Whitsundays Marketing and
Development’ and other stakeholder’s individual planning and
activities; and,
Fostering the efficient, effective and coordinated use of
resources to grow sustainable tourism development in the
Whitsundays up to 2016
The Whitsundays region incorporates part of the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park, its associated islands (resort and National Park
islands) and adjacent mainland areas.
For the purposes of this TOP, the tourism nodes and precincts have
been identified within the region as including.
Whitsunday mainland: north of Laguna Quays through to
Bowen including Proserpine, Cannonvale and Airlie Beach, with
a focus on the leisure tourism concentration in Airlie Beach and
the Bowen Coast.
Islands: the islands seaward of the regions’ coast, including the
Whitsunday Islands.
1 Context
2 Whitsundays Marketing and Development.
3 The DTS is a tourism strategy document for The Whitsundays region until 2016. A wide range and number of reports, plans, data and other current information used
to compile this Destination Tourism Strategy and critical to its implementation is also available on Tourism Queensland and Whitsundays Marketing and Development
websites: www.tq.com.au and www.tourismwhitsundays.com.au
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