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Gold Coast Tourism AGM and Board Appointments
| 24 November 2009
Gold Coast Tourism (GCT) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today at the Gold Coast International Hotel with the tourism body’s members and local industry representatives turning out to review the year and welcome the 2009 Board of Directors.
Three positions were available this year with Bruce Nicholls of Tall Ships Sailing Cruises and Steve Howard of Gold Coast Publications being returned and newcomer Noel Dempsey of Dreamworld, White Water World and QDeck securing the third vacancy, replacing Peter Doggett of In2Tourism.
Paul Donovan of Gold Coast Airport was returned as Chairman and Adrienne Readings of the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre was appointed as Deputy.
Returned GCT Chairman Paul Donovan said the year had seen a strengthening of the organisation which was reflected in the calibre of Board nominations.
“As a stakeholder in the Gold Coast tourism industry and the Chairman of Gold Coast Tourism I am proud and inspired by the standing of this organisation in 2009,” he said.
“The outgoing Board managed a number of positive changes during one of the toughest times for tourism in Australia, they have placed the organisation in an excellent position for future growth.”
“The incoming Board is incredibly experienced and equally passionate, I have no doubt they will return the faith of the Gold Coast tourism industry with fresh and sustainable success.”
“On behalf of the entire Gold Coast tourism industry I must recognise the good natured and tireless work of outgoing board member Peter Doggett, he has been instrumental in the shaping of the organisation and the industry for many years.”
The 2009 / 2010 Gold Coast Tourism Corporation Board is as follows:
Paul Donovan, Gold Coast Airport (Chairman)
Adrienne Readings, Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre (Deputy)
Peter Brampton, Marriott Hotels
Noel Dempsey, Dreamworld, White Water World and QDeck
Steve Howard, Gold Coast Publications
Bruce Nicholls, Tall Ships Sailing Cruises of Australia
John Punch, Short, Punch & Greatorix
Paul Steer, KPMG
Discussion at today’s GCT AGM focused on strategic, structural and marketplace changes managed by the organisation over the past 12 months including:
MARKETING STRATEGY REVISION
Gold Coast Tourism’s marketing strategy and activity was universally refined to deliver seasonal, tactical campaigns which were flexible enough to meet rapidly changing market and consumer demands but maintained a consistency in message and method. A focus on target audience exposure and high conversion execution maximised outcomes for the local tourism industry. The work of Gold Coast Tourism focused on three main fundamentals of destination marketing across all markets in which we are active; they are Campaigns, Familiarisations and Missions.
As the peak body responsible for both the stewardship and leadership of the local industry, Gold Coast Tourism rebuilt relationships with key stakeholders Gold Coast City Council, Tourism Queensland and Tourism Australia, and the strengthened commercial relationships with airlines, the Gold Coast’s two international airports and industry at large to leverage, align and maximise joint investment. These partnerships yielded great results for the Gold Coast over the past year, and are a testament to the genuine spirit of engagement offered by our partners and the joint recognition of common interest.
MEMBERSHIP FOCUS
Gold Coast Tourism reconnected with its members to ensure it accurately represented industry perspectives, better met industry priorities and maximised member return on investment. This process focused on direct engagement via survey, face to face meetings in member premises, the delivery of valuable business education and the creation of new opportunities to assist member marketing activity. At the end of the financial year Gold Coast Tourism had 473 members, an increase of 71 members over the same time in the previous year. GCT is confident that it is delivering the most inclusive and effective return on investment for the region’s 26,600 tourism levy contributors and its registered members.
GOLD COAST CONVENTION BUREAU
Gold Coast Tourism established a dedicated convention bureau capability to capture more high yield corporate, association and incentive business. The Gold Coast Tourism Business Events department evolved into the full service Gold Coast Convention Bureau dedicated to lead generation and in-market sales conversion of meeting, incentive, association and conference business for the Gold Coast. The intelligence gathering and sales staff concentrated on researching and securing business out of Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region as priority markets. This restructure led to an immediate increase in bid activity and referral of business to local operators. A fully functional website was delivered to support the bureau – GoldCoastConventions.com
DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT
Gold Coast Tourism delivered three new websites to promote the destination’s detailed message and provide a direct sales platform for Gold Coast products and services - VeryGoldCoast.com, YourCoast.com.au and GoldCoastConventions.com.
ENDS
Ben Pole
Gold Coast Tourism, Director Communications
0437 343 104 or ben.pole@gctourism.com