BRISBANE last week welcomed 3000 delegates and a forecast economic benefit of $11million, as it hosted the 29^th International Horticultural Congress (IHC) at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre from August 17-22.

The IHC 2014 congress was hosted by the Australian Society of Horticultural Science, the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, under the auspices of the International Society for Horticultural Science. 

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said just prior to the event that Brisbane would benefit from hosting IHC 2014, as horticulture was the third-largest agricultural sector in Australia, with more than $AU9 billion Gross Value of Production.

“This conference will support our horticulture sector and showcase what our city has to offer the agricultural industry,” Cr Quirk said.

“Brisbane offers IHC 2014 delegates an unsurpassed Australian experience, with ease of accessibility, a vibrant CBD, enticing dining, provocative cultural experiences and genuine and welcoming people.

“2014 is a huge year for the Brisbane business events community, with IHC 2014 arriving in town just weeks before the 2014 G20 Leaders Summit.”

Cr Quirk said that Brisbane volunteers for IHC 2014 had undertaken the Brisbane Welcomes the World program, which would help provide delegates with a personal connection to Brisbane, its culture and attractions.

"Brisbane Welcomes the World will continue beyond G20, to ensure we are giving visitors the warmest welcome.

“This is an interactive and engaging training program that will be invaluable for conference organisers and delegates who choose Brisbane to host their business event,” Cr Quirk said.

“One of Brisbane’s great assets is our friendly and caring community, a characteristic that hasn’t changed as we have become an emerging global city,” Cr Quirk said.

“The aim is to give delegates a personal connection with our city, our culture and our events that we hope they will share with their friends and relatives."

Cr Quirk said Brisbane Marketing’s Brisbane Convention Bureau had worked closely with congress organisers to help IHC delegates get the most out of their stay in Brisbane.

“The Bureau offered a suite of in-kind support, including digital signage at the airport, onsite tourist information at the event and Airtrain travel discounts to assist delegate travel into the city.”

* The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) forecasts the Gross Value of Production (GVP) of the horticulture sector to be $AU9 billion in 2010-11, up from $AU6.5 billion in 2004-05.

 www.brisbanemarketing.com.au

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EXTRA: THE WORLD’s biggest artistic and cultural celebration of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, the fifth annual Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) on July 24-27, is set to give the Tropical North Queensland region a tourism boost.

CIAF offers multi-dimensional line up of new and established events spanning art exhibitions, music, dance and fashion performances and cultural activities along with a dynamic art market featuring art centres and galleries from across Queensland and interstate. 

Arts Minister Ian Walker said 2014 was a significant milestone for CIAF with the event being managed independently by CIAF Limited and changing dates to be the first major art fair for the year.

“The Queensland Government is looking forward to seeing CIAF continue to grow and to be a cultural tourism drawcard for the Cairns region, having generated more than $5.6 million in tourism expenditure to date,” Mr Walker said.

CIAF’s chief executive office, Alison Copley said the event was significant to Cairns as a destination and particularly the cultural heritage and livelihoods of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander artists.

“Since its establishment in 2009, CIAF has been the only art fair in Australia to sell and showcase art by members of Queensland’s Indigenous communities,” Ms Copley said. “Our event is committed to providing an ethical marketplace for the sale and purchase of Indigenous art while nurturing the career development of artists.”

According to Ms Copley, CIAF’s credentials are impressive.  To date, attendance figures have exceeded 65,000 visitors, there has been participation by more than 600 Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and performers and over $2.4 million generated in direct sales of art works.

“This year will see CIAF welcome 13 Indigenous Art Centres from across Queensland, as well as high end commercial galleries from Melbourne such as Alcaston Gallery,” she said.

“In a first for CIAF, two galleries from will Sydney present works from established Queensland Indigenous artists: Martin Browne Contemporary with Mavis Ngallametta and Michael Reid Gallery with Christian Thompson.”

www.ciaf.com.au

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EXTRA: By Carolyn Childs

I BELIEVE it is time for us to make some changes in Australia and adopt a new perspective on service in our tourism industry.

Service is an often overlooked factor that, if done right, would drive change and gain the tourism industry recognition as a genuine force for social and economic good.

In Australia, tourism already generates nearly twice as many jobs as mining according to Tourism Research Australia. And tourism has just been identified as one of Deloitte Access Economics’ Fantastic Five – one of the sectors that will keep Australia high in the world’s global prosperity league as the mining boom cools.

Tourism builds social capital as it spreads jobs across the economy from students to highly paid tourism CEOs. It connects people from different cultures with one another through service interactions.

But this last role requires a quality interaction. It should be an interaction that leaves the visitor feeling enriched or engaged with the place they are visiting. In an age of instant social media, it is now even more important.

A dissatisfied customer tells between nine and 15 people on average, says a consumer affairs study from America (Omar Zaibak: 20 Customer Service Statistics for 2011). But if they tell TripAdvisor, that can become tens of thousands very quickly.

In our research, Southeast Asian nations are consistently seen as leaders in service. The Singapore Girl is an icon of service. But Anglophone cultures such as Australia, with our egalitarian tradition, often struggle to deliver a high quality service experience.

Indeed, at the press launch for the TNS Domesticate study service quality was noted as a barrier to Australians taking more holidays at home. The need to understand the impact of service quality on an international visitor’s experience has led to a satisfaction question being added to the International Visitor Survey (Tourism Research Australia).

My own service experience in this area on a recent weekend away very much confirms that service is a challenge for Australia. At a golf resort on the New South Wales Central Coast I waited 40 minutes for two slices of toast, which then arrived without butter, which I then had to seek.

But I don’t think Australian culture is at odds with a great service. My NSW breakfast was in stark contrast to the service experience I received shortly before in Canada (where service was universally excellent).

For example, staff at the Blue Water Café in Vancouver pointed us to a fantastic artisan sake maker. We wouldn’t have made this discovery without the staff taking time to chat to understand us and volunteering relevant information.

Then there’s money. Does tipping help or hinder service? One theory is that if you know that you’ll earn more money you’re likely to give better service. I am sure money does play a role, but only up to a point.

For example, the cabin crew on our Air Canada flight into Vancouver changed their service rotation to make sure that anyone who didn’t have a choice for dinner got served first at breakfast. As air stewards, they certainly weren’t expecting tips.

I also saw a few elements that other destinations could learn from Canada and apply to service situations in Australia.

An important factor is the element of process and structure.

In work I did for Tourism Queensland on service, we interviewed service leaders and saw a remarkably consistent pattern of behaviour. Pulling this together with the published literature on service quality, we developed a nine-step process that any business could apply to improve its service.

Although, Singapore Airlines is famous for friendly and patient service, it actually builds that service around a series of well-drilled protocols on how to interact with guests.

Tourism Vancouver also has processes such as service quality awards that recognise individual contributions to help.

Another thing any destination can do is to use elements of its personality or own culture to create a service style that is unique and helps create memorable interactions. The style that Canada uses is unobtrusive, but effective care for the customer. It was never about them and how great they were. It was always about how we were feeling.

Australians in the tourism industry have already considered what makes Australia unique as a country: qualities of warmth, positivity and energy. It is a genuine and spontaneous service style with energetic engagement at the behest of the customer.

(An Indian friend recently remarked that Angus Houston, spokesperson for the search for MH370, personifies many of those qualities.)

But this approach could apply to any culture. For example, German style is often about quiet efficiency that provides peace of mind when travelling.

Apart from service, we need to remember practical measures: Chinese food snacks in the hotel room, signage in multiple languages at airports, ensuring that a prayer room is always available for Muslim guests.

But the combination of these with a style that authentically matches perceptions of the destination should ensure that any destination can be a ‘force for good’ in building economic gain and social capital.

That said, I still wonder if visitors to Paris would feel that they missed out if they didn’t experience an exotic combination of high culture and rude service...

www.mytravelresearch.com

*

Carolyn Childs and Bronwyn White co-founded and lead MyTravelResearch.com, a market research and marketing firm specializing in the travel, tourism and aviation industries. Its specialty is providing insights that are actionable. With both principals having lifetime careers in travel, tourism and aviation, MyTravelResearch exists to build the visitor economy and successful tourism businesses. Ms Childs said MyTravelResearch does this by putting the voice of the customer and best practice business thinking into an easy to implement, hands on approach via an innovative membership model.

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POSTED JULY 23, 2014

EXTRA: THE SALE of three locally manufactured Maritimo motor yachts for $2 million each capped off one of the most successful Sanctuary Cove International Boat Shows (SCIBS) in recent years, reinvigorating the luxury boat building sector.

Luxury manufacturer Riviera also clocked up several multi-million dollar deals on its own locally-made vessels. Amazingly, Maserati sealed the deal on four luxury cars, worth a combined $1.5 million, at the boat show.

Clipper Motor Yachts had the largest on-water display at this year’s show and held the world premiere of the Hudson Bay 32, priced at $329,000.

But their sales and inquiries were in the $1.2 million to $1.8 million range, according to managing director Brett Thurley.

“It’s the bigger boats, in the 50 to 60 foot range which are attracting the most attention this year,” Mr Thurley said. “In a number of instances we’ve dealt with existing owners upgrading.”

Multihull Central director Brent Vaughan, who was at his 14^th SCIBS, saw the return of some long term customers this year.

“We’re in the heart of catamaran territory on the Gold Coast so we’ve had a lot of local interest,” Mr Vaughan said. “It’s made for some great leads throughout the four days.

“We’ve set up some sea trials for next week so the hope is that will flow through to sales.”

Leigh-Smith Cruiser Sales, which has exhibited at the Show since its inception and will soon relocate its base from Gold Coast City Marina to Sanctuary Cove’s Marine Village, has also witnessed some repeat inquiry.

“We’ve planted a few seeds and we’re hoping to harvest the fruit later,” said dealer principal Dean Leigh-Smith. Mr Leigh-Smith said it was important for his company to have a presence at the show each year, recalling a recent deal he closed with a client he met at SCIBS in 2009.   

In the trailer boat segment, Collins Marine had two of its Arvor boats on show – the Weekender and the launch of the Sportsfish 605.

“It’s been solid for us today, much better than last year,” said Peter Collins. “The show is better organised, better laid out this year. It has really worked for us.”

Daniel Souvleris from JD’s Boatshed in New South Wales sealed the deal on a Glastron GT185 for around $50,000 on the final day.

“We’ll get a lot out of the show in terms of sales leads – you can live off it for 12 months,” Mr Souvleris said.

Boaties are also seeing syndication as a good way to enter the market, with Boating Syndication Australia selling six shares in a Riviera 44 and further two shares in a Riviera M360 at the show.

Club Marine, major sponsor of the 2014 SCIBS, made the most of its high-profile location on the main thoroughfare to the Marinas.

“We’re in a great spot, right near the big boats. Everyone who wants to buy wants to know what insurance is going to cost them,” said Club Marine spokesperson Gaven Paterson.

“This year has been a marked improvement on last year – we’ve had a lot of genuine inquiry.”

Mulpha Sanctuary Cove head of events Johan Hasser said while they noted a marked increase in visitor numbers, the true barometer of success was exhibitor sales.

“The general consensus has been very favourable and exhibitors are thrilled with strong sales and leads throughout the four days of Boat Show,” Mr Hasser said.

“There has been a big change in sentiment this year, they’re genuinely out to buy.

“Bringing an event of this magnitude together is a 12-month operation and the hard work of the team has really paid off this year.”

Mulpha Sanctuary Cove executive general manager Keith Allardice said SCIBS would continue to be Sanctuary Cove’s flagship event.

“It’s been excellent to showcase the unique Sanctuary Cove lifestyle to visitors and exhibitors from all over Australia and overseas once again this year,” Mr Allardice said.

“It’s a key event on the international Boat Show calendar and will continue to be so for years to come.”

SCIBS is a leading event on the national and international marine industry calendar and has injected millions of dollars into the Gold Coast economy over the past 25 years with last year’s show generating more than $148 million.

The $A2 billion Sanctuary Cove, located on the northern Gold Coast, is Australia’s leading and most successful master-planned community.

Featuring two 18 hole championship golf courses, a 300 berth marina, five-star InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, Country Club including full fitness centre, tennis courts and 25m swimming pool, Sanctuary Cove is also home to some of the most diverse waterfront, golf course fronting or hilltop residential house and land options on the Gold Coast. 

Next year’s 27^th Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show will run from May 21-24, 2015.

www.sanctuarycoveboatshow.com.au

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POSTED JULY 23, 2014.