Mayor Whitney said the forum is a great opportunity to learn more about the Queensland
Government’s long-term vision for Queensland Tourism and how it will help grow tourism in the
Whitsunday region.

“With the Whitsunday region being one of Australia’s most popular tourism destinations for both
domestic and international visitors, the DestinationQ Forum represents a chance to learn how to
grow this industry further,” she said.

“The Whitsunday region welcomed 189,000 international visitors in the year ending June 2014
and also saw almost 500,000 Australians spend over $600 million in the region.

“The accommodation and food services sector in the Whitsunday region employs close to 15 per
cent of the local workforce, making the tourism industry the region’s largest employer.

“We believe there is an enormous scope for the local tourism industry to expand, with the area
brimming with tourism-related investment and business opportunities.

“This year’s DestinationQ Forum is focused on “Growing your product – Growing your industry”
and will highlight each regions destination tourism plan, identifying its priorities to grow the
industry,” she said.

Whitsundays Marketing and Development Limited (WMDL) Chief Executive Officer Danial
Rochford said the forum presents a great opportunity to decide on the next steps towards doubling visitor expenditure by 2020.

“It is important that the various players in the Queensland tourism industry work together to
achieve the 2020 targets and the forum will ensure that we are set on the right path to
collaboratively grow tourism in our state,” Mr Rochford said.

“In partnership with the Whitsunday Regional Council, Tourism and Events Queensland and our
WMDL members, we have worked hard to market the Whitsundays as Australia’s premier tourism destination, to enhance our visitor experiences and to foster investment in the tourism industry to ultimately grow visitation and expenditure,”

“These efforts have come to fruition and I am looking forward to discussing new strategies and
setting new milestones at DestinationQ to grow our region’s tourism industry even further,” Mr
Rochford concluded.

Ends

For media enquiries, contact:
Kate Lennox, Communications Manager
Phone: 07 4945 0614, 0427 458 369 or Email: kate.lennox@whitsundayrc.qld.gov.au