About Us

Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) is the peak regional visitor destination marketing organisation for Tropical North Queensland (TNQ)/ Cairns & Great Barrier Reef and is a membership based, industry funded, incorporated private company, limited by guarantee.

The TNQ region is best known as the gateway to the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics Rainforests (the only place in the world where the 'rainforest meets the reef'. The region encompasses areas Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait in the north, Cairns, Cairns Beaches, and Palm Cove, Port Douglas, Daintree and Cape Tribulation, Cooktown, Gulf Savannah, Kuranada, Atherton Tablelands and Mission Beach and south to Cardwell.

The land coverage equates to 20% of the total area of Queensland, but only home to 6% of the Queensland population.

TNQ is Australia's third most important holiday destination after Sydney and Melbourne, and remains Australia's most popular holiday destination for Japanese visitors.

Tourism is the main economic driver of the regional economy, contributing $2.2B for 12 months ending December 2010 and has contributed $12.4B in the last 5 years to the regional economy.

Our Mission

To grow sustainable tourism in Tropical North Queensland.

Our Vision

To be the world's best tropical visitor destination.

Our Goal

To grow visitor expenditure by $1B to $3.2B by 2015.

Our five key areas of strategic focus 2011 - 2015

1. Grow Market Share

• Grow international market share for all visitors to TNQ from 13% to 16% by 2015
• Grow domestic market share for all visitors to TNQ from 3.6% to 4.2% by 2015

2. Increase Expenditure

• Increase TNQ's international visitor expenditure from $605M ti $1.1B by 2015
• Increase TNQ's domestic visitor expediture from $1.44B to $1.85B by 2015

3. Strategic Aviation Growth

• Grow international seats (incoming) from 479,000 to 800,000
• Grow domestic seats (incoming) from 2,000,000 to 2,700,000

4. Sustainable Funding

• Increase tourism marketing funding by a minimum of $3M annually

5. Destination Management Partnerships

• Develop partnerships with agencies that carry responsibility for investment, labour and skills, and infrastructure development to achieve growth

Key Statistics for Tropical North Queensland

• Tourism is a $2.2B (YEDec10) industry in TNQ that has contributed $12.4B to the economy during the past five years.
• Tourism employes 18,700 people directly and an additional 32,000 indirectly.
• Each of Cairns Regional Council ten divisions has a high volume of tourism employment ranging from 18% - $29%.
• An additional $1B in visitor expenditure would create 12,400 jobs.
• The community's per capita earnings from tourism in TNQ are $11,115 with an investments by Cairns Regional Council of only $7.80 per person. The Gold Coast investments is $20 per person with $7,914 per capita earnings.
• Agriculture and tourism were both work around $400M in the mid '80s. Since then, both have expanded with tourism worth $2.2B and agriculture $1.7B.
• TTNQ member businesses alone are estimated to contribute $29M to Cairns Regional Council finances annually (through rates), provide 11,700 local jobs with $492M expenditure on wages and contribute $5M in donations to the community.

TTNQ's role is to build destination awareness in Australia and selected international holiday and business tourism markets through a targeted program of marketing activities to achieve maximum visitation, length of stay, expenditure and regional disperal within Tropical North Queensland. TTNQ works with industry and key stakeholders to achieve this objective.

TTNQ is committed to the community and sustaining the unique culture and environments of Tropical North Queensland.

Organisational History

TTNQ commenced operations in the 1960's with the formation of the Cairns Regional Development Bureau, which later became the Far North Queensland Development Bureau (FNQDB). This operation included the formation of a Visitor Information Centre.

In 1978 the organisation changed its name to the Far North Queensland Promotion Bureau Ltd (FNQPBL). The FNQPBL set up the Cairns Airport Development Committee which resulted in local ownership of the Cairns Airport and its upgrating to receive direct international flights. Following the opening of Cairns International Airport in 1984 visitor numbers increased dramatically, which set off a development boom in the region.

By the early 1980's, the sire councils became major financial contributors to tourism marketing. In recognition of the importance of tourism to the region, the Cairns Regional Council (then the Cairns City Council), Cairns Airport (then the Cairns Port Authority), Ergon Energy and Tourism Queensland (TQ) also became corporate sponsors.

in 1996, a convention and incentives unit was formed as the region's official convention bureau, named Cairns & Region Convention Bureau, and in August 09, became known as Business Evens Cairns & Great Barrier Reef (BECGBR) to be in line with the national body, Business Events Australia and other similar entities.

In 1997, following a major re-branding exercise undertaken in conjunction with TQ and the then Australian Tourist Commission (ATC), the organisation's trading name became Tourism Tropical North Queensland - the registered company name remains the Far North Queensland Promotion Bureau Ltd. At this time, the marketing name for the destination became "Tropical North Queensland", and this continues to be the case today and although this is the glue that represents the region, due to the strong sub-brands, the organisation will position any future communications as Cairns & Great Barrier Reef.

Since 1998, TTNQ has hosted the annual TNQ Tourism Awards in order to formally recognize outstanding achievements within the region's tourism industry.

Meet The Team

TTNQ's professional team is made up of several different departments, each dedicated to marketing the Cairns & Great Barrier Reef region as the destination of choice for leisure and business visitors. Visit TTNQ's Contact Us page.

TTNQ's Organisational Chart.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland
51 The Esplanade
PO Box 865
Cairns QLD 4870
PH: +61 7 4031 7676
Fax: +61 7 4051 0127
Email: info@ttnq.org.au