The return to familiarisation trips, which will also include a trade element for planners to discuss business with local suppliers, has come about at the urging of local industry and in recognition of the role first-hand experience of the destination plays in convincing decision-makers to bring their events to Cairns and Port Douglas.
The first group of planners will head to Cairns in early November this year, with expressions of interest to attend to open shortly.
The in-destination educational opportunity for event organisers was announced at the Business Events Cairns and Great Barrier Reef road show this week, with events in Sydney and Melbourne.
“We recognise national business is about 75 per cent of business for the destination,” bureau head Tara Bennett told micenet at the Sydney stop of the showcase.
“The best opportunity for us to help people convert business and to understand the Cairns [and] Great Barrier Reef experience is to see it for themselves.”
Bennett says the famil is an opportunity for experienced event planners as well as those newer to the industry to gain first-hand understanding of the Cairns, Port Douglas and Great Barrier Reef offering now, given the destination’s evolution since pre-pandemic.
In the meantime, the new four-year funding offer for business events in Cairns, announced earlier this month, has been received “exceptionally well” says Bennett.
“On announcement [of the funding], we saw our second highest month of leads for the destination since COVID.
“It’s certainly been welcomed that it has a little bit more flexibility than previous funding streams and so it’s certainly got a lot of interest.”
The terms of the new funding mean larger events held during Cairns’ peak season are now eligible for support, where they weren’t before.
One event has already been locked in with funding from the new program while there are several other potential events that are progressing towards confirmation “quite quickly” due to the funding being available.
At this week’s road show, there were some new products and renewed services in the mix.
Hilton is making big moves in Cairns and Palm Cove, with the international brand set to debut the Hilton Palm Cove Resort and Spa next year. The 140-key property, located between Cairns and Port Douglas, will include 48 suites, two pools and around 450m2 of event space.
And in Cairns, there’s a major renovation of the street-level pool area underway at DoubleTree by Hilton Cairns. The new pool, opening soon, will be approximately three times larger than the existing pool. A new pool bar is part of the renovation, while the hotel’s restaurant is also getting a major makeover.
Once complete, the restaurant, pool and bar area will be able to accommodate events of up to 800 people, while the pool will be able to host events of up to 100.
Meanwhile, not far from the convention centre, the recently opened Mexicairns combines Mexican food and drinks across several different spaces with the likes of two bowling lanes, augmented dartboard games and cutting edge AV. Offering a dedicated agave bar and serving up eight different flavours of frozen margaritas, the venue can be bought out for cocktail groups of 700, while smaller groups can occupy private or semi-private spaces.
In 2024, Cairns also received something of an event production boost, with Wallfly moving its head office to Cairns.
“If a technical production company, a PCO business and a digital services offering all had a baby, we’re the result of that relationship,” Wallfly’s co-founder Dior Yarwood told micenet, to describe the capabilities of the business.
Wallfly is a tenant at Screen Queensland’s Cairns outpost, parts of which double as events spaces, with the company also providing gear, crew and training to the film industry in Cairns alongside their event work.
