ATE 2007 Host CEO Ian Mitchell chats with The Mole

Having been in the role of CEO Tourism Queensland for three years, moving back into the private sector from Qantas, Ian Mitchell [pictured right] welcoming delegates to ATE 2007] as host CEO, has had a very busy ATE 2007.

Having also been running NT Tourism in the past and on the board of WA tourism, Ian has brought to TQ an excellent balance of private and public sectors experience and he told The Mole that he is really enjoying the job and believes that TQ has a great team that can continue to deliver success in tourism to Queensland.

He said, “We have all achieved a tremendous amount since I joined TQ and when you look at ATE2007, the team has really excelled in creating such a tremendous event with Tourism Australia.”

The Mole asked what Ian’s objectives were going into ATE were and he said that what TQ tries to achieve is to maximise the benefit for the industry as Tourism Queensland is only as strong as the industry that provides the product and services in the State and as you can see the size and numbers of operators investing in ATE and having ATE in Queensland as the home State allows us to showcase the State, not just Brisbane but also through all the pre and post touring programmes that take place for buyers and media, some getting really off the beaten track in areas they might never normally get to see.

He added that the economic impact of ATE is in the region of $10 million, but for Queensland it is quite difficult to measure moving forward, estimating that it is in the hundreds of millions of dollars per annum over the coming years in additional visitor income.

We have 150 Queensland exhibitors for the Western Module alone in addition to Queensland operators that are part of national operation and they are within the National section, so a very strong Queensland presence indeed and a very large investment.

We estimate that more than 40% of the Queensland product is represented here at ATE 2007.

In terms of business, we have enjoyed pretty good domestic traffic over the last twelve months with good domestic growth and internationally we are getting some good growth from most markets except probably Japan and we want to try and ensure that our other portfolios are working, which is why we have set up representation in India and employed a new agency in the UK.

So our role is to try and grow the other markets as well and China and Korea are also very much emerging markets for us.

In the UK context , clearly Queensland is the blue dream destination and we have used “Beautiful one day, perfect the next” as our slogan in the UK for a number of years, with the natural beauty of Queensland, the Barrier Reef and the people all part of the product that we sell in that market.

We offer a lot of luxury product in the UK market, but also backpackers are strong form the UK and they just love Queensland.

Our climate is also very special and the UK market really loves it here.

The trade in they UK is very important and our agency in the UK led by Jane Henderson works hard with the trade and also media and publicity is part of the methods we use to go to market.

About 260,000 Brits visit Queensland every year and that number is continuing to grow, with the great thing about Brits being that they stay longer, they further and spend a lot of time travelling along the coast and inland, with the UK providing the highest level of visitor nights to Queensland, while not the largest actual numbers of actual visitors.

North Americans love Australia and love Queensland and the Barrier Reef is the biggest attraction for them with more now visiting Fraser Island and the Gold Coast with five non stop flights a week now from LA and Qantas also launching an air pass product just for Queensland.  In addition, Air New Zealand also offers a daily service to Brisbane via Auckland.

They also like the Whitsunday’s and the Gold Coast and in the region of 200,000 Americans visit Queensland every year.

We work closely with Tourism Australia and in particular through the Aussie Specialist Programme and we have an office in the TA office, with our work in the trade critical.

We also participate in G’Day USA and other promotions in the USA.

With some Queensland operators and regions and this week the QLD Premier have been pretty open and critical of The Where the Bloody Are you Campagn, The Mole asked Ian what TQ’s position was now in relation to the campaign

He said that TQ’s position was that they wanted to see how the States could actually leverage it and particular in some markets where we need a more collaborative approach in particular in Japan. 

We have also seen work that TA is providing that it is taking a different approach that is going to be a lot easier for us to use and that we are very pleased that are listening to us more and more.

I think that there are some great parts to it and at the end of the day while we don’t have the consumer dollars that they have and we want them to create the motivation but we also need them to work with us to create the conversion and that is the biggest issue.

We look forward to continuing working with the TA executive in the new more collaborative environment that seems to be being created and generating more valuable business for Queensland.

Thank you Ian

The Mole reporting on location from ATE 2007.