The education of Melbourne Business School students continued yesterday with a presentation from Wendy Morris giving an insight into the challenges the region has faced, and the opportunities that must be capatilised on.

The Morris family have been heavily involved in the development of the region for 40 years encompassing a number of industries from agriculture, property development, tourism (Ms Morris was 
Chairman of Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree), and now energy with the Tableland windfarm project underway.

Ms Morris presented her opinion on "catalyst events" that have had a major influence on the prosperity of the region, both positive and negative. Positive events included:

• The completion of Cairns International Airport;
• Establishment of Quicksilver Cruises;
• Building of Sheraton Mirage;
• Introduction of Compass Airlines;
• Marketing of the region; and
• Increase in flight services.

And in the negative column:

• 1989 pilot strike;
• SARS outbreak;
• Asian Financial Crisis;
• Global Financial Crisis;
• Extreme weather events; and
• Loss of flight services.

Ms Morris said trends such as the rising and falling of the Australian dollar, ageing infrastructure, the move toward shorter holidays, and increased competition from places such as Bali, Fiji, and domestic, has also played a part in the region's success or lack thereof.

"Anything that competes for disposable income is what we need to compete against," she said.

She added that community leaders had responded to the challenges that the region has been faced through the establishment of TPDD, "tactical marketing campaigns with Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Tourism Queesland, and Tourism Australia," and community engagement. 

Ms Morris conveyed what she believed the goals for the region's future should be with the short-term objective to "stop the bleeding" from local businesses, then refresh infrastructure with the 
Sheraton refurbishment the top priority followed by the waterfront redevelopment, and build economic resilience in the long-term.

"The tourism industry is the silent major achiever. The tourism industry needs to be strong and stand up for what we offer in terms of the (national) economy."

Melbourne Business School students were urged by mentor Selwyn D'Souza to raise the energy levels for the next stage of the project which involves a number of focus group sessions with community members. 

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