by Mat Churchill

The slump in tourist numbers to Far North Queensland has forced the area to review its dependance on leisure traffic, according to Bill Calderwood, chairman of Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

According to a Tourism Today report, international visitors to our area dropped by 106,000 people to 651,000 last year. Reductions in air capacity from traditionally strong markets such as Japan has been blamed for the slump, despite new services from, China and New Zealand starting this year.

"We've looked at new segments that aren't as cyclical, such as medical tourism, educational tourism, and sports tourism." Mr Calderwood said. “We’re a first world city located within seven hours flying time of 500 million people,” he said.

Medical services available in Cairns such as cosmetic surgery and renal therapy may attract people from overseas to come to the area, while the Solar Eclipse Marathon to be held in Port Douglas in 2012 is an example of a non-traditional product with the potential to draw large numbers of visitors to the area.

Executive Officer for Tourism Port Douglas and Daintreee, Doug Ryan, said there has been a focus on these varying markets for some time in our area. "Business events are huge here and definitely an area we're concentrating on, and the production of movies is a big money earner for the region."

Mr Ryan said TTPD work closely with Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Tourism Queensland, and Tourism Australia to plan strategies for future events.