Easter Tourism Dollars Flow

EASTER – the traditional boom time for tourism – could be the saviour for tourism operators in the Gladstone region this year.

Some places are already booked out and many are reporting increased bookings in the lead-up to the combined school holidays and Easter period.

Lady Musgrave Tours marketing manager Rob Moore said he did a call around of the accommodation in town and was told booking numbers were up and there were bookings in the week after Easter, which he said was a good sign.

“They’ve slowly started to pick up and people are on the road again. We’re looking pretty good at the moment,” he said.

After a disastrous summer with flooding, Cyclone Yasi and the misconception that the whole of Queensland was under water, tourist operators are looking for a good Easter.

Mr Moore said the initiatives from Tourism Queensland and Tourism Australia were helping the industry get back on its feet.

“We’ve signed the Queensland Pledge and we’re getting the word out that we are here,” he said.

A big push into the China market was expected to have positive results for local operators.

“The (Great Barrier) reef is a big drawcard, it’s what they want to do when they come here,” Mr Moore said.

Kroombit Park owner Carol Sandilands said they had quite a few bookings and were getting a lot more inquiries.

The park is nestled in two hectares of eucalypt forest on Lochenbar Cattle Station, 35km from Biloela, which offers an Australian outback experience.

“It was pretty standstill during the flooding, but now we’re seeing a lot more campervans and caravans,” she said.

“We did have a large backpacker market but this hasn’t picked up yet.”

Inquiries were coming from Brisbane and throughout Queensland, as well as Gladstone locals looking to take visiting relatives to Kroombit.

Tourism Minister Jan Jarratt launched yet another tourism initiative yesterday.

Five hundred backpackers in Sydney will be offered free bus and rail travel to Queensland when they book five nights of accommodation in at least two Queensland destinations.

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http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/story/2011/04/08/easter-tourism-dollars-flow-gladstone-region/