STORMY RIDE FOR QUEENSLAND'S TOURISM INDUSTRY

Tourism businesses in Queensland have experienced a stormy ride in the past few years. First there was the global ?nancial crisis, then a series of cyclones that caused terrible damage in the state's north in 2010 and early 2011. These cyclones, including the devastating Cyclone Yasi, were followed by the worst ?oods in Queensland in 50 years, also in early 2011. Queensland is ?ve times the size of Germany and, as one report states, there was notable damage to 18 000 properties (both commercial and private) and a fall of $590 million in tourism revenue. Some estimates valued the damage to the tourism industry from the natural disasters as high as $1 billion.

Nearly a quarter of all Australian visitor nights take place in Queensland. Tourism is a key contributor to Queensland's economy with annual revenue of approximately $9.2 billion. It offers direct employment to 122 000 people and indirect employment to an extra 100 000.

Unfortunately, these natural disasters came at a time when the tourism industry was already struggling as the strong Australian dollar meant overseas holidays were attractive to Australians, while Australia-bound holidays appeared very expensive to international visitors (the number of international holidays taken by Australians rose by 13 per cent in 2010).

It was not just the disaster areas that saw fewer tourists. Hotels in Cairns reported occupancy rates of just over 50 per cent in 2010; Gold Coast hotels only reached 60 per cent occupancy.

Bookings were down in other popular tourism destinations such as the Whitsundays, Port Douglas and the Sunshine and Fraser Coasts. These areas were not directly affected by the various natural disasters; however, of great concern to tourism operators is the impact of the receding ?ood waters as they ?ush toxic sediments into the fragile ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef.

One likely reason for the low numbers of tourists was the amount of footage and discussion on the cyclones and ?oods that aired on TV stations in Australia and internationally. Furthermore, real-time Twitter and Facebook communication of both the ?oods and Cyclone Yasi could be construed as negative publicity. In fact, in just 24 hours,10 000 people tweeted information regarding Cyclone Yasi, while some 90 000 members created over 25 Facebook groups discussing the cyclone.

Understandably, some of this communication was very emotional and included some powerful images of damage. Unfortunately, some of the information provided was inaccurate, so much so, that Queensland Police and the Premier, Anna Bligh, had to make public statements with corrections to the facts.

The online discussion continued long after the immediate catastrophes.

Tourism operators in Queensland were awarded $12 million in joint state and federal disaster relief to assist in rebuilding the industry. This money will be used to generate more tourism interest and demand via road shows, as well as domestic and international trade shows. The message is that Queensland is ‘open for business'. Individual businesses also contributed to the recovery efforts; for example, Qantas and Virgin Blue airlines offered free travel to assist operators in North Queensland.