Terrific times for tourism
The first delegation from Singapore were impressed by our location – and the sandblow!
by Mark Beech, President Rainbow Beach Chamber of Commerce and Tourism
Wow, what a couple of busy months we have had in town with picture perfect conditions for the school holidays, and they just keep rolling on!
So what else has been happening in the world of commerce and tourism?
Just after the holidays last month we had a visiting group of Singaporean travel agents in town in cooperation with Destination Gympie Region, Visit Sunshine Coast and Scoot Airlines.
This group were here as part of a long-term strategy in preparation for the extension of the Sunshine Coast airport, which will then allow direct flights to Singapore via Scoot Airlines.
For anyone that has been to Singapore you will realise the attraction a place like Rainbow Beach has for this market. Driving over 80km/hr and for hours at a time is the ultimate for a Singaporean driver.
You can’t walk on a deserted beach either in Singapore and do a lot of other things that we take for granted in Rainbow. Cindy Loo, from Jetabout Holidays Singapore, after seeing sunset at the sand blow said, “Sunset today was simply one of the best I have seen!”
Following on from this, Heatley from Rainbow Getaway has been in New Zealand with Andrew Saunders from Destination Gympie Region, promoting the region and local businesses to agents and wholesalers. With direct flights into Maroochydore this is a key market for Rainbow businesses and has quite a bit of untapped potential.
The TEQ office in Munich recently attended TTG Incontri in Italy (Trade Show) and has reported that interest amongst Italian agents with Rainbow Beach is growing, which is great news for all of us.
It wasn’t that long ago that European agents didn’t know about Rainbow Beach. This will be built on further with Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours and Rainbow Ocean Palms preparing to head over to Europe in January to promote the region.
Even though specific businesses are undertaking these activities mentioned above, everyone in town benefits from the flow-on effects of increased visitation. They all eat at the various eateries, shop in the local shops and do tours and activities and help sustain our business community through the quiet times.
In the local market you will have noticed a number of businesses continuing with advertising our area on TV and, if you follow social media, have you noticed the huge increase in the number of social media posts since our Instagram workshop? Check out #visitrainbowbeach #rainbowbeach and #visitgympieregion as examples.
Rainbow Beach Commerce and Tourism Association promotes Rainbow Beach and fosters cooperation amongst its members to encourage business growth in our community.
We do this through operating the www.ourrainbowbeach.com.au website and through various cooperative activities between members. All members are entitled to a free listing on this website and also a free advert in the sidebar, and the stats from this website show that it does deliver customers to our members.
The organisation has survived through the ups and downs because it achieves results for its members. Membership renewal invoices have been issued to all past and present members and we would appreciate prompt payment.
If we have missed sending you an invoice, please send an email to rbct.president@gmail.com requesting one. Hope to see you at the next meeting – 6.30pm on Wednesday November 9, at Coffee Rocks.
