Tourism Noosa’s new marketing and events manager ADAM TOWNSON hit the ground running when he started in early January, with a raft of problems to solve as we slowly move out of Covid, including restructuring events to meet current restrictions and switching advertising to markets that are allowed in as others lock down. PHIL JARRATT sat him in the NT Hotseat.
What’s your background in travel?
I worked for Flight Centre for 10 years, looking after advertising for multiple brands, and more recently with Travel Associates as head of marketing.
In the six weeks you’ve been here, what’s the biggest difference you’ve found between private enterprise travel marketing and destination marketing?
There are a lot of similarities in terms of engaging with customers and focusing on their needs, but here we’re more direct in the way we do that. The real change is working with the members, who are key for us, and helping them to benefit from the marketing that we push out to attract visitors. We also have to focus on the many reasons people come to Noosa, and how in these times they get their information about it. People are researching their trips more than ever now, thinking that this is the time to discover Australia, and we have to be sure that when they do that, they find Noosa. But also we have to be able to react to the Covid changes as they happen. For example, with the recent lockdown in Melbourne, we were able to dial down our digital media in Melbourne and switch the messaging to Sydney.
If there’s any chance of international visitation this year it’s probably going to be the Tasman bubble, with new direct flights to Sunshine Coast. How’s that looking?
We’re working closely with the aviation partnership, which is Visit Sunshine Coast and the airport, and New Zealand is very much in the conversation right now. We’re looking at July as a starting point for year-round flights, and our fingers are crossed. Visit Sunshine Coast is already targeting New Zealand, kind of warming them up, letting them know they’re welcome. At Tourism Noosa we’re putting our plans in place to roll out our NZ strategy as soon as we can. But we also have to look at what international looks like generally, so we’re keeping Europe and the UK in touch with our updates because they want to know, even if they can’t come yet.
I can remember talking to your CEO, Mel Anderson, not long after she’d started here and had been engulfed by the onslaught of the pandemic. You’ve come in at the other end, just as we think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the situation for tourism operators has been nowhere near as dire as it seemed back then. Is there optimism in the local industry?
Definitely. December and January were generally very good, and the data we have suggests that it will remain healthy up through Easter, but we need to keep our finger on the pulse and to maintain our strategies for the quiet periods. One thing that we’re hearing is that once international opens, even if it’s just regional South Pacific, the visitation will immediately steer there. The South Pacific destinations, understandably, are going to come out with very strong offers. The market will be flooded. So yes, we should make hay while the sun shines, but we should also keep reinforcing the message, keep coming back to Noosa for the things you love about it, weddings, wellness, whatever.
That’s a neat segue into events, the great seasonal equaliser of the tourism economy, at least until now. With border closures still threatening, what’s the major events schedule looking like?
We’re talking to the event organisers and to the other parties on an almost daily basis, because we’re very keen to continue to support them. It’s key to what Tourism Noosa does, but of course there’s uncertainty. We need to keep talking to the events so that we can understand what they need as their situation becomes clearer, but every event we support will need to have the appropriate permits and meet obligations at local and state level.
Right now Noosa Council has only one application for a major event permit (from the Noosa Festival of Surfing) and it’s my understanding that Council’s Covid requirements might be different from the state’s.
That’s being reviewed as we speak at two Noosa Council meetings, so we’re all on standby to see what that will mean for scheduled events, but right now the 500 people limit still remains. There are events that can proceed within that, but the bigger ones will need to be confirmed. For example, the dog surfing event at the Noosa Festival of Surfing regularly attracts thousands of people, so that couldn’t happen under current restrictions. Other events are staggering their attractions across a day or days and limiting numbers for each. We’re looking at all these contingencies, which might not be the best answer, but it’s the best we have in these circumstances.
Is the staggering of events over longer periods becoming the new normal?
In part, yes. Noosa Alive, for example, has it’s Reignite events coming up next month over a few days but the larger event in July, which is still being mapped out, looks like it could operate under the 500 maximum. The Noosa Eat and Drink festival is also looking at more events more often, with rounds of events this month and next, then an autumn affair involving local restaurants, and the big event in June, which should look as it always does in most respects, although there might have to be some changes with the size of the marquee on the beach.Are you going to change the name?
No comment (laughs). But going back to your question about staggered events, we seem to be in two minds over whether it’s a Covid thing or something that will continue. Two examples are the 12 Days of Christmas programs on Hastings Street and then the Noosa Junction Sounds Like Summer, which has now been extended. It’s a way to change the thought processes away from larger events, and it’s proven very popular.
What are the other major events scheduled?
We’re talking to Ultra-Man at the moment, and it looks like Runaway Noosa will come back in May 2022. Then there are smaller events like the Body Art Festival, and the arts events like Noosa Open Studios and Floating Land. It’s early days but we want to push the arts sector.
Which brings us to the Noosa Tri in October. Are they thinking international?
Not as I understand it right now. Ironman has run an event in Cairns under Covid restrictions and by the time Noosa comes around, they will have run several more, so we’re optimistic that they will be able to run with whatever restrictions might be in place.
Tourism and Events Queensland describes its strategy for the times as “fluid and flexible”. How would you describe yours?
Enter The Biosphere was an idea that we pushed out but I think our messaging needs to define what that means. Something like “come into our world and discover so much” might help. But in terms of dealing with the Covid response, it’s hard to go past fluid and flexible. That’s exactly what we’re trying to be.
