THE success of a tourism campaign involving 10,000 free flights for visitors to the Far North has led to the development of a second promotion.
The campaign last month quickly sold out. Eight tourism businesses joined forces to fund 10,000 return economy tickets – worth more than $3 million – to lure more Australian holidaymakers to the tropical north.
The 5000 twin share tickets were provided when buyers booked a five-day, four-night travel package of $1499 per person in a collaboration involving Cairns Aquarium, Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, Kuranda Scenic Rail, Down Under Cruise and Dive, Billy Tea Safaris, Dundees Restaurant, Novotel Oasis and Virgin Australia.
Aquarium founder and chief executive officer Daniel Leipnik said the campaign “was highly successful in attracting thousands of bookings”.
“We are still getting inquiries from customers who missed out and wish to book the campaign package,” he said.
“We plan on launching the campaign again to also bolster tourism visitation in upcoming shoulder season months.’
Mr Leipnik said the second and similar promotion was still being worked on, with a slightly different focus aimed at families or Outback Queensland.
He said it was estimated 600,000 people read or heard about the first campaign through media coverage.
He said most of the bookings came from customers from Melbourne and Sydney and visitors started arriving this month.
“It was very rewarding to work collaboratively with other tourism operators in the region and Virgin Australia to grow awareness of Cairns and increase visitation to the region,” Mr Leipnik said.
The tickets were spread among Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with specific travel dates of May 9-June 22, October 11-December 14 and January 16 -February 15 next year. It is expected the promotion will generate up to $30m for the region’s economy.
Overall passenger numbers through the Cairns Airport continue to grow.
Total numbers were 373,631 (356,927) or 4.7 per cent.
International arrivals in April totalled 35,436, a huge jump on April last year (3182) or 1014 per cent, while domestic figures were slightly down from 342,333 last year to 325,619 last month (a drop of 16,714 or 4.9 per cent).
