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Fun for the family
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HOLIDAY Why Queensland in Australia is becoming a preferred destination among tourists
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AUSSIE ATTRACTION Cairns City, Marina, Queensland
During the last fortnight, a few Queenslanders were selling their land to Indian travel agents. The Australian delegation, which included members of Tourism Queensland and stakeholders in the tourism industry there, conducted workshops in New Delhi,
Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai, aimed at increasing tourist traffic from India.
Already, Indian tourists display a preference for this “Sunshine State of Australia”. According to the Tourism Forecasting Council, Australia, 50 per cent of the Indians vacationing in Australia visit Queensland, primarily for any or all of these reasons – the Gold Coast, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. Paul Buggy, regional director, Tourism Queensland, says a 17 per cent increase in the number of Indian tourists to Queensland every year, till 2016, has been forecast. For the workshop in Chennai, Buggy was accompanied by 13 tourism operators, who work in different parts of Queensland and offer different sets of services. These operators went from table to table to interact with travel agents from the city. Working closely with the trade industry is one of the five strategies. The others are: “telling the media about it, creating links on websites, talking directly to the consumers and working with the airways”. Buggy says advertisements have been avoided because of their prohibitive costs.
The campaign
Called ‘Fun, Family, Queensland’, the title of the campaign reveals an interest in tourists travelling with their families. Buggy says youngsters in India’s IT sector, who have large incomes, constitute a major target group. Local travel agents are expected to put packages together for such groups.
Some of the places with which they have to work out packages are: the Green Island (located in the Great Barrier Reef), Outer Barrier Reef, Tjapukai (for anyone who wants to understand aboriginal culture), the area from Mungalli Falls on the Atherton Tablelands to Palm Cove (for someone who craves an Australian outback experience), Cairns, Palm Cove and Port Douglas.
Some of the websites offering information on Queensland’s tourist spots and services: cairnstropicalzoo.com, tjapukai.com.au, quicksilver-cruises.com, VeryGC.com, blazingsaddles.com.au, silverseries.com.au, cairnshabitatcruises.com.au, dive-queensland.com.au and outbackqld.com.au.
PRINCE FREDERICK
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