Mr WETTENHALL (Barron River-ALP) (9 February 2010, 12.52 pm): I would like to draw to the attention of the House some recent good news relating to aviation services in tropical North Queensland. As part of the Premier's highly successful trade mission to the United States earlier this year, the government has announced a partnership between Qantas Airways, Tourism Queensland and Tourism Tropical North Queensland to promote a deal which offers Americans the chance to fly from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Cairns from US$898 and receive a free stopover in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or
Auckland.
In the year ahead, we look forward to welcoming China Southern Airlines flights from Guangzhou city to Cairns which will commence in February-from 11 to 15 February-with each service carrying up to 375 people. March will also see the introduction of a new Virgin Blue Group international service between Auckland and Cairns. Virgin Blue's New Zealand based international airline, Pacific Blue, will operate the twice-weekly flight which is scheduled on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with the airline committing a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, representing a 79 per cent increase in available seats on the route.

In addition, Continental Airlines flights will operate a daily service from Guam to Cairns from 17 March to 6 April to meet an increased demand from Japan and Guam. This daily service connects to Guam and the nine Japanese cities which Continental services.

From the beginning of April, tropical North Queensland will receive 17 new flights per week from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, adding just over 3,000 weekly seats and potential visitors to the region. April arrivals also include the resumed direct flights between Osaka in Japan and Cairns.

Fourweekly Jetstar flights will add up to 1,200 seats for the region per week, which equates to approximately 63,000 seats per year. Looking back to the end of last year, there was more good news for the region which we in tropical
North Queensland will soon begin to benefit from. The Premier announced the signing of a deal expected to deliver up to 300,000 extra passengers to Cairns over the next 2½ years. That agreement between Cairns International Airport and low-fares carrier Jetstar has the potential to provide a huge boost to jobs in the local tourism industry.

Prior to Christmas we received positive news for the wider Queensland tourism industry, with Qantas's announcement that it will upgrade the Brisbane-Cairns service to a larger aircraft on six services per week, providing an additional 912 seats per week. These recent commitments are a strong indication of the industry's confidence in Queensland. Supporting our aviation partners into the future is paramount to the continued strength of the Queensland tourism industry.

The Bligh government and Tourism Queensland will continue to work together to ensure that the future of Queensland's tourism industry remains bright.
In other good news for the tropical north, early in the new year the government provided a special funding grant of $72,000 for Tourism Tropical North Queensland that will be used to implement two projects to help raise awareness of the value of tourism in the region. TTNQ will develop a tourism
awareness strategy, with the aim of increasing locals' appreciation of the importance of tourism to the region, as well as introduce a new market intelligence reporting system to look at how seasonal booking
affects the region.

In marketing news, late last year a four-week Tourism Queensland led domestic campaign for tropical North Queensland generated nearly 7,800 room nights and an estimated $5 million in visitor expenditure. The ‘Spend more time, not more money' campaign held in October, in partnership with Flight Centre, wholesaler Infinity Holidays and Tourism Tropical North Queensland, secured 7,775 room nights for the region-double that of the same time the year before.

The most recent national visitor survey also indicated that tropical North Queensland recorded an increase in domestic overnight visitors in the year ended September 2009, particularly from interstate.

Tropical North Queensland also recorded a strong increase from the family holiday market-up 41 per cent-from both intrastate and interstate markets. Competitive holiday packages promoted through the office of the Minister for Tourism and by Tourism Queensland have had an obvious appeal for this market during what has been a difficult 12 months for the region.

While there is no doubt that 2009 was one of the toughest years on record for our tourism industry, particularly those in tropical North Queensland, these aviation announcements and campaign activity demonstrate a strong confidence that 2010 will be a more positive year.