Over 220 industry members from across Australia descended on Noosa last Friday for the first ever Tourism Noosa Tourism Summit 2017.
The event was the first to be held in the Noosa region and was about highlighting the future of tourism, an industry important to Noosa’s economy.
Tourism Noosa CEO Damien Massingham said tourism was the number one industry in Noosa with visitors injecting over $900 million annually into the local economy. The key themes for the summit were about guiding sustainable tourism development and innovative marketing.
“Having quality product, hero experiences and great service were central themes from our speakers across the day,” he said.
A wide range of industry experts spoke at the summit including futurist Bernard Salt, who talked about the demographic outlook for tourism in Noosa and Australia and the need to adapt and refresh offerings to global travellers and move with their changes.
Australian tourism legend Rob Pennicott from Pennicott Wilderness Journeys in Tasmania took event-goers on a journey to reveal how he turned his business into one of Australia’s leading tourism operators and spoke about his company’s commitment to delivering quality product, superior customer service, innovative practices and importantly, sustainable growth.
Fellow guest speaker Accor’s Director of Development for the Pacific region Lindsay Leeser discussed the importance of reinvestment in business to ensure high standards are maintained.
Other speakers included Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort and Sea-air Pacific managing director Peter Gash talked about how he turned the Great Barrier Reef Island into an award-winning destination.
Innovative marketing was discussed with Tourism Australia’s chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson when she spoke of the enormous challenges being faced by brands in the ever-more complex world of marketing, while the future of marketing was also discussed with the head of travel for Google Australia Dougal McKenzie.
Mr Massingham said while the tourism summit saw delegates attending from across Australia, it was great to see such a large contingency of our own Noosa businesses attending the day.
