Comments on: Tourism Whitsundays Awards criticised for lack of entrants

By: Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:23:04 +0000

I have some concerns as an education (and travel) agent in Central Europe and Turkey who endeavours to promote Australian regions, cities etc. Too often onshore bodies, marketing groups still seem to focus upon physical promotions and industry events, while virtual their most economic marketing channel, i.e. footprint offshore via website, is invisible….

One top tip for any tourism body in an Australia region wanting to develop increased awareness and interest offhsore, you have Australians and students with languages, and you have websites that can be linked offshore, why does this not happen?

Only Tourism Australia, who may make errors of judgement on promtional content, but they do have the best international virtual footprint by virtue of using other languages, and links to offshore Aussie Specialists.

I hope itis not like the education sector where institutuions and marketing groups onshore still defer to physcial events and appear nervous re. the internet?

By: j davison

j davison — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:27:40 +0000

Peter has brought up a very good point here.

Are specialized (vertical) industry organizations, like the Backpacker Operators of NSW, the QLD Diving Association, and EcoTourism Australia becoming more relevant for the member at the expense of the membership within the Regional Tourism Organizations?

Within RTO’s, there can be a lot of disunity amongst similar operators within the same catchment, as a director of TW wrote recently. One operator may end up being a Director of the RTO, or within a faction of the RTO, and the competing operators leave.

This could explain why the majority of the 10 awards that were given away a couple of weeks ago went uncontested, and also why industry organizations are becoming bigger, and our (and other) RTO’s membership base is shrinking.

Could the future of tourism promotion in QLD, and maybe Australia, end up being a collective of trade/vertical associations rather than regional organizations?

* Peter has pointed out that I erred that no other Backpackers in Airlie Beach were eligible for the Backpackers Award. He has advised that the YHA was eligible.

By: Peter O'R

Peter O'R — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:16:34 +0000

Totally agree. Tourism awards are about raising standards and they only work if people enter them. TW has hosted well attended “Awards workshops” in the past couple of years and undoubtedly that has facilitated the impressive growth in submissions generally. However, as highlighted by JD, the lack of penetration in the backpacker sector is disappointing given the importance of the sector locally. Contrary to one of his points, all but one of the local hostels meet the TW membership criteria (C’mon Julian, Airlie YHA was the odd one out!) and one other was excluded by the hall of fame rule. So we had six eligible hostels and no entries. Given the Queensland Tourism Awards have mustered only three hostels from across the whole State, 2 from TNQ, 1 from BNE, we’re talking about a much broader issue. Could it be that the Backpacking industry has embraced the Golden Backpacks as its Night of Nights?

By: Julian Ledger

Julian Ledger — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:46:20 +0000

I would encourage more backpacker operators nationally to enter the tourism awards. The entry requirements have been rationalised in recent years and the awards are less work than before and not expensive. As Greg Cole says there are workshops in at least some States/Territories to assist first time entrants.

The process of entering requires a close analysis of the business which brings benefits regardless of success in the awards. Many mum and dad operators including small regional backpacker hostels have been judged winners in the past. What is required is a good story to tell, enthusiasm and commitment and someone with a flair for words and design to get the message across – plenty of those in the backpacker sector.

By: j davison

j davison — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:43:13 +0000

I was the writer of the blog that this story was taken from.

Peter is right that there has been an increase in numbers attending these awards nights, as it is the biggest ‘black tie’ event in the Whitsundays, and continues to draw people to the dinner.

However, the fact is that Airlie Beach has been a Backpackers town for decades, and this year, not one Backpackers or Hostel won the Backpackers Award. I think Peter quite understands how big a jaw dropper that is, which is probably the reason why the award was not even mentioned in the Press Release.

Peter is also correct that some business / institutions are excluded because they have won the award 3 times. Beaches Backpackers (whose GM was also a Director of TW until last month) has won the award 3 times and was excluded.

Why then, did none of the other half dozen BP’s / Hostels not apply for the award? Why do they choose not to be members of the local Tourism organization, in a Backpackers town? Was it a silent protest? That is the underlying question.

Awards submissions may be up 50% over 2 years, but Tourism numbers to the Whitsundays over the same time have dropped 33%.

Martin, you ‘hit the nail on the head’ with your observation that:
“because the entry process is quite onerous, making it hard for small businesses to enter?” That is one of the main reasons. Another is cost to be a member of TW.

If you business has been operating in the Whitsundays for 1 or 2 decades, you are still not eligible for a Tourism Award if you are not a member of TW. You may be the best Backpackers, Hotel, Motel, Tour, etc in Australia, but you won’t even be allowed an entry unless you are a member of Tourism Whitsundays, and you have coughed up $600 or more (it was around $600/yr when I was a member 5 years ago).

10 Awards were given away to the one entrant – if there were no finalists, then should it be called an Award, or a Gift?

I think our community is getting tired of being fed all the ‘ramping up’, ‘everything’s fine’, ’sponsorships up’ news, when our tourism industry here has been going downhill. It reminds me of the scene in the movie Titanic, where the band plays on as if nothing is wrong, while the ship sinks around them.

I note that Peter has not said that any of my comments or facts were untrue, and I believe Peter has presented his case truthfully as well. Peter’s job is to present a very positive one of TW and the Whitsundays, which he does very well.

However, there are always at least 2 sides to every story, and I think my article, and Peter’s reply show that we both can see events in a differant light. Up until now, we have only been hearing one side of the story.

I tend to agree with Peter that another word instead of ‘flop’ may have been used, as the awards night dinner ‘as an event’ was a success.

The original story I wrote can be found at http://whitsundaysonline.blogs.....wards.html

J Davison
WhitsundaysOnline.Net

By: greg cole

greg cole — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:23:04 +0000

From the point of view of the NSW awards: The entry process does require a lot of work, but done once would certainly be easier 2nd time around. The quality of your submission is certainly key to making the finals and I believe this would be a hurdle for many small operators; however, TNSW ran excellent workshops on preparing submissions, which in hindsight I would say are essential for new entrants. Does QLD do a similar thing? Is there a mentoring process for new entrants?

By: Martin Lane

Martin Lane — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:12:21 +0000

Thanks for that Peter

The story was sourced from a blog which, while looking “official”, does appear to be something of a stick to beat Tourism Whitsundays with.

On reflection, the original headline “Tourism Whitsundays Awards flop due to lack of entrants” was somewhat unfair and has been changed.

As you say, the lack of backpacker entrants in the awards is a State-wide concern – I wonder if this is because the entry process is quite onerous, making it hard for small businesses to enter?

Cheers

Martin – Thumbrella

By: Peter O'R

Peter O'R — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:56:08 +0000

Good grief Thumbrella, do you actually check anything (facts or sources perhaps?) before you put your name to it and stick it on the web?
The 2009 Whitsunday Tourism Awards was an outstanding success. Awards submissions were up 50% on the previous two years. Sponsorship of the Awards increased 52% on the previous year and attendance has moved from 240 (at Hamilton Island 2007), via 276 (Proserpine Cultural Centre 2008) to 328 on the Airlie Esplanade this year. The last two events were complete sellouts over a week in advance.
In an apparently tough year for the tourism industry, that’s the kind of flop I’m very happy to be involved with, and put my name to.
Our awards utilise the National Tourism Awards criteria and obviously not all national categories are relevant, particularly in a small region like the Whitsundays eg Tourism Wineries. The Hall of Fame period for repeat winners also has an impact on participation, with seven businesses currently excluded.
The lack of Major Attraction nominations is due to our local attractions not wanting to pit themselves against the Dreamworld’s and Skyrail’s that monster that category in the State Awards. They give themselves a much greater chance of success by targeting the smaller category.
Tourism Whitsundays would like greater support of the local awards from the Backpacker sector, however, as the State Awards have just 3 entrants in the backpacking category, the problem is clearly not Whitsundays specific.
I believe the success of the Whitsunday Awards can be measured by the local nominations in the Queensland Tourism Awards. This year the Whitsundays is bettered only by Tropical North (Cairns & Co) and Brisbane. While the Gold Coast industry is 10 times the size of ours both regions are providing 20 nominations.
Based on the above, I fail to see how any unbiased and rational appraisal could consider the 2009 Whitsunday Tourism Awards anything but an outstanding success.

Peter O’Reilly
CEO, Tourism Whitsundays

By: Martin Lane

Martin Lane — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:25:36 +0000

Thanks for that FPP – fair comment.

I guess the difference between us is that Mumbrella has a dedicated Editor ie Tim and Thumbrella is done off the side of a desk by people with other jobs as well. At busy times, like now, we are unable to give it the time it needs.

That’s why we’re looking to appoint a full-time Editor asap. Anyone interested in the role can find out more here – http://mumbrella.com.au/jobs?job_id=587

Cheers

Martin – Thumbrella

By: FPP

FPP — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:54:44 +0000

You know, I think you need to start offering a little more opinion and analysis on this site if you want it to take off. I haven’t seen anyone comment on a story in weeks (possibly because most of the stories here are just re-reporting of what’s on the SMH and News.com.au that day).

Mumbrella’s working because TIm’s giving people something to talk about.