The Whitsundays Tourism Opportunity Plan - Tourism Queensland

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Table 1: Map of The Whitsundays Region LEGEND Major Airport Small Airport (light aircraft only) Train Route G R E A T DARWIN B A R R I E R R E CAIRNS E F N ORTHERN TERRITORY THE WHITSUNDAYS PERTH AUSTRALIA BRISBANE CANBERRA ADELAIDE SYDNEY MELBOURNE HOBART SOUTH AUSTRALIA Pacific Ocean 1 Context NEW SOUTH WALES Fairy Reef Net Reef Oublier Reef Townsville Collinsville Bowen Hydeaway Bay The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Hayman Island Line Reef Hook Reef Bait Reef Knuckle Reef Elizabeth Reef Hardy Reef Black Reef Pacific C oast Touring Route (Bruce Hig hway) Dingo Beach Hook Island Whitsunday Airport Airlie Beach Daydream Island Shute Harbour South Molle Island Whitsunday Island Whitehaven Beach PERTH Peter Faust Dam Long Island Great Barrier Reef Airport Proserpine Cedar Creek Falls Hamilton Island Proserpine River Conway National Park Whitsunday Coast Airport Lindeman Island Laguna Whitsundays Brampton Island © Tourism Queensland 2010 Mackay Midge Point 4
The Whitsundays region is characterised by a coastal district and islands within the Whitsunday Regional Council Area. The Whitsundays region’s visitor experiences are found mostly on the region’s islands and Airlie Beach and Bowen on the mainland. Marine based activities are predominant with supporting mainland activities becoming a key development focus for the region. 1.3 Tourism in the Region How has tourism in the Region changed over the last ten years? The Whitsundays is one of Australia’s most aspirational holiday destinations and popular with international visitors. Centrally located on the Queensland coast in the heart of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef, the region encompasses the Whitsundays Coast mainland (Proserpine, Cannonvale, Airlie Beach, Bowen and Collinsville) and the Whitsundays Islands. The region is home to some of Australia’s most iconic tourism experiences including Heart Reef, Whitehaven Beach, Hamilton, Hayman and Daydream Islands and Airlie Beach, and has two regional airports serviced by daily services from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns. Approximately half of the region is national park. Tourism growth was initially driven by locals from the mainland as well as visiting cruise ships and by the mid 1930’s resorts were operating on Lindeman, South Molle, Long, Daydream and Hayman Islands. However it wasn’t until the 1950’s and 1960’s that the region saw significant growth. Tourism product development was bolstered as accessibility from the mainland, particularly Shute Harbour was improved, helicopter and light aircraft tours and transfers were introduced, investment in the refurbishment and redevelopment of key tourism infrastructure on both the islands and mainland occurred and airline attraction became a key driver of growth in visitor numbers. What is the current tourism profile of the Region? Tourism is the mainstay of the Whitsundays economy and makes a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the regional economy and community. In the year ending March 2012, the Whitsundays was host to 5 : ■■ ■■ ■■ 576,000 domestic overnight visitors; 165,000 international visitors; and 308,000 day trip visitors. This visitation in turn makes a significant contribution to the Whitsundays regional economy. In 2007/08 6 ■■ ■■ 3,400 jobs in the Whitsundays region are directly supported by tourism; and Whitsundays tourism contributes $253 million to the regional and Queensland economy. (For more detail and current information visit www.tq.com.au/destinations) Contribution to the Queensland Gross Regional Output ($m) in 2007–08 Whitsundays 253 Rest of Queensland 8939 1 Context The value of the tourism output to the Whitsundays in 2007/08 was $685 million. This was 17.7 percent of the overall output from the region, making it the third most tourism dependent region in Australia after Central Northern Territory and Phillip Island in Victoria .4 The Whitsundays 74 Island Wonders is a tourism brand platform that was introduced in 2010 with long term vision for the region as a tourism destination. It is an evolution of the The Whitsundays, 74 Islands Out of the Blue brand introduced in 2006. The evolution of the brand is the result of a shift in Queensland’s marketing approach to focus on the tourism experience and the consumer’s emotional response rather than just focussing on the Whitsundays’ attributes. Contribution to the Whitsundays Regional Product ($m) in 2007–08 Tourism 17.70% Other Industries 82.30% 4 Source: Economic Importance of Tourism in Australia’s Regions Report Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism www.ret.gov.au/tra 5 Source: TQ (2012) Whitsundays Regional Snapshot, year ended March 2012 6 Source: STCRC (2010) Regional Economic Contribution of Tourism Destinations in Queensland. (This most recent 2007-08 data came out of a major research study which produced the first set of estimates of tourism’s economic contribution at the destination level.) 5
Page 1 and 2: The Whitsundays Tourism Opportunity
Page 3 and 4: Executive Summary Long Island Purpo
Page 5 and 6: Contents Hamilton Island Golf Cours
Page 7: 1 Context Tongue Bay, Whitsunday Is
Page 11 and 12: 2 Methodology Blue Pearl Bay, Hayma
Page 13 and 14: Active Explorers are about pushing
Page 15 and 16: Variable service standards, includi
Page 17 and 18: harness interest from surfboarders,
Page 19 and 20: 5.7 Airlie Beach Development Variou
Page 21 and 22: 6.3 Improving the Supply of Telecom
Page 23 and 24: 7.2 Attractions and Activities Oppo
Page 25 and 26: 7.4 Superstructure Opportunity Loca
Page 27 and 28: Opportunity Locations Status Next S
Page 29: 8 Implementation Whitehaven Beach T

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