Taken place in the Australia‘s Gold Coast on August 27 and 28, 2013, DestinationQ conference was once again attended by Superyacht Australia to ensure the voice of the Queensland superyacht as well as marine sector was heard. This is the second consecutive DestinationQ conference for Superyacht Australia, which participation in these conferences has ensured excellent awareness of the sector and resulted in ongoing communication between the Queensland Government and Superyacht Australia.
Premier Newman and MaryAnne Edwards
Superyacht Australia is pleased to announce that following continued communication and correspondence with the Queensland Government, Premier Newman has submitted a letter of support to the federal governments Treasurer advising of his support for the review of the charter regulations currently placed on foreign superyachts visiting Australia.
Recognising the potential for growth in the visitation of superyachts and the benefit visitation brings to the core pillars of their economy Premier Newman’s letter stated “I wish to express my support for the submission and would very much like to see the current restrictions reviewed.”
MaryAnne Edwards AIMEX CEO, Richard Chapman AIMEX President, The Hon Bob Baldwin MP
Another key issue for the Queensland superaycht sector is the need for support of the request to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to amend the 35 metre rule for superyachts in the Great Barrier Reef and to look at the infrastructure now required to support this significant part of the Queensland economy. Newman confirmed his readiness to support the reduction in red tape and regulation where growth is being hindered. Superyacht Australia will be driving the support of this with the government.
Another key area of discussion Superyacht Australia had with many delegates at the conference was their keen enthusiasm to ensure a visitation programme is developed for superaychts wanting to visit the Gold Coast during the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
The two day conference is an initiative of the new Newman government and was driven by Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey.
DestinationQ is a whole-of-government initiative to grow tourism and re-position this state as the number one tourist destination in Australia. The conference opened with a significant panel of the governments Ministers providing the industry with an update on their progress since the first DesintationQ conference held in Cairns last year.
Superyacht Australia’s operations manager Victoria Smith attended the conference and commented that the conference was incredibly well run, engaged industry immensely and that the industry was particularly impressed with the activity and progress made by the government and enjoyed the opportunity to work together with the government in steering the direction of the governments tourism strategy.
As a result of the conference 18 strategies were derived which the government has committed to undertake. The Queensland Government also signed a partnership agreement with the Queensland Tourism Industry Council confirming their commitment to working with industry to drive growth for the sector and the importance of the tourism sector as one of the four pillars to their economy.
400 key industry stakeholders attended the conference along with a number of high ranking Queensland government members of parliament and officials.
