Last Tuesday Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree’s (TPDD) annual general meeting saw 30 members comes together to celebrate new appointments, discuss a strong year and the positive outlook going into 2016/17.

Outgoing chair Tony Baker, who stepped down after two years at the helm, said it was a really positive way to complete his tenure with the organisation.Mr Baker hands over the reins to long standing board director Sheena Walshaw who is the managing director of Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours in Cape Tribulation.

Having been on the board of TPDD since October 2011 and Deputy Chair the last 4 years, Ms Walshaw is delighted with her new appointment.

“This is my third appointment to the board.  I am honoured to become Chair of such a dynamic and positive Board and organisation which I believe punches well above its weight in a competitive environment,” she said.

In her new role, Walshaw is focused on harnessing the expertise and intelligence of the Board which comprises of diverse experience and expertise she says.

“My aim is to provide cohesive guidance and support and to ensure effective and productive ongoing relationships with Douglas Shire Council and other stakeholders. I don’t come into the position with a set agenda, but with a desire to utilise the Board’s skills and insights to maximum effect.”

Others appointed were Natalie Johnson, general manager of Flames of the Forest appointed the Port Douglas Zone Director and CaPTA’s director of sales and marketing Ben Woodward appointed as a general director.

They join Liz Schibig from Paradise Links Resort, Douglas Shire Council (DSC) mayor Julia Leu, Wendy Van Der Wolf of Executive Retreats and Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s new director of leisure sales and marketing Jane Wilson.

With an 11 percent growth in membership income and a nine percent increase in member numbers, Executive Officer Tara Bennett said this was achieved through increased communication and engagement with local tourism businesses.

By introducing a tiered memberships structure making membership more equitable and accessible to a wider range of businesses, Ms Bennett said this has proven beneficial.

“The growth was achieved through the implementation of an engagement strategy to better communicate TPDD activities as well as our contact with the business community.”

Ms Bennett said TPDD and the Douglas region tourism industry will continue its push to grow visitor numbers as well as to extend visitor length of stay, visitor nights and yield, and to increase the volume of repeat and referral visitation.

“We will continue to review our domestic and international marketing activities to ensure a long-term sustainable mix across all consumer and trade platforms,” said Ms Bennett.

Moving forward, the Board will be working on developing an Eastern Strategy Group focusing on the growing Chinese market claiming that the growth seen in the Eastern markets can not be ignored.

“The establishment of an Eastern Advisory Group aims to provide TPDD with market intelligence from operators working with the market. We hope this will produce a number of strategies that we can implement to target the growing FIT Chinese visitor market as well as the opportunities presented from South East Asia and the Silk Air flights.”

It is reported that the Port Douglas Daintree region is starting to see more Asian overnight visitors coming into the destination as well as on day trips from Cairns.

“The Eastern Advisory Group will ensure we are positioned to capitalise on this emerging market.  The destination will benefit long term from a diverse visitor mix that provides spread out visitation patterns, the Eastern market is an excellent fit due to the high travel around Chinese New Year early in the year and the recent Golden week,” concluded Bennett.

Mayor Julia Leu had not responded at the time of going to press.