Come to the Chamber meeting on May 3

By Mark Beech, Rainbow Beach Commerce and Tourism Association President

Leading the state in terms of tourism growth is something we can be all proud of, and shows that local businesses are on track to success and are benefiting from RBCT member’s activities. What has been happening over recent times to build on this?

Website  and social media Now aligned to visitrainbowbeach for brand consistency thanks to volunteer Suzie at Epic Ocean Adventures, we now have over 3100 Instagram followers, and from around 600 to over 3600 on Facebook. Remember to hashtag your social media images with: #visitrainbowbeach

Europe Roadshows and advertising campaigns have featured images of Rainbow on billboards with support from DGR, VSC and TEQ.

New Zealand Members were represented at a roadshow in October last year, followed up by an international marketing campaign. The newspaper supplement will reach over 200,000 people and feature 24 local businesses, with a low cost entry point for many of the smaller  businesses in town.

Singapore With the impending expansion of the Sunshine Coast Airport and potential for direct flights from Singapore, it is on the radar. Several high profile front line and travel executives recently spent two days in town to evaluate the opportunities for their market.

Australian Tourism Exchange This month in Sydney,  4 out of 11 Sunshine Coast stands will feature Rainbow Beach operators. This will not go unnoticed by the many thousands of other exhibitors and buyers. At my first ATE in 2010, buyers didn’t even know where Rainbow Beach was.

Australia Members have been on marketing trips and marketing initiatives to southern states.

Bush to Beach fundraiser Several members have been involved in this charity event and the publicity will help raise the profile of Rainbow in the domestic market.

Advocacy Our secretary works hard to connect and lobby local council and our state member so that we can stay abreast of issues and also provide feedback to our elected representatives.

Networking RBCT also provides networking opportunities with other businesses, providing friendly events for all business owners, including seminars like our well-attended Instagram workshop.

In each case RBCT members have been involved for the benefit of every business in town. When you combine this with all the other travel company people coming to Rainbow, there is no better time to get involved.

We encourage all businesses to join to share ideas and learn what others are doing to bring people into town and into their business – our next meeting 5.30pm May 3 at the Sports Club.

Of course if you have some questions please feel free to give me a call or drop me a line rbct.president@gmail.com