Community & Business
10 June, 2022
New push to lure visitors to Palm Cove
IT’S one of the most beautiful destinations in the tropical north, described as the “jewel in the crown” by locals, and now Palm Cove will be showcased nationally through a revitalised and refocussed destination marketing campaign.
The beach destination has always been a favourite with locals, especially people on the Tablelands who embrace Palm Cove as the perfect seaside getaway.
And now, emerging from the pandemic, Tourism Palm Cove (TPC) is refocussing its efforts towards marketing the tropical destination to key domestic markets and some international markets.
Underpinning the refocussed TPC is its new Destination Palm Cove Strategy that provides the framework for marketing the holiday haven into the future.
Launched at an industry function on 30 May, the strategy outlines the vision for Palm Cove to become “the most serene and sophisticated tropical destination in Australia”.
This supports the recent work done by Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s Palm Cove Identity project and focusses on the serene and sophisticated simplicity qualities that were clearly identified.
Tourism Palm Cove president Gary Kerr said having a clear focus for TPC was creating some significant marketing capabilities that could be put to work for the group’s members.
“Earlier this year our members said we needed to concentrate on marketing Palm Cove as a highly desirable destination,” he said.
“That feedback clarified the need for TPC to increase its capabilities to promote Palm Cove.
The Destination Palm Cove Strategy provides the framework to achieve that in the coming years.
“We believe Palm Cove is tourism’s ‘Jewel in the Crown’ in Tropical North Queensland and we are determined to make sure it shines brightly in our key domestic markets,” Mr Kerr added.
Certainly, Tablelanders will be keen to return to the beautiful beach village and will be able to again take advantage of special locals deals when they are offered.
The Express newspaper has jumped on board the strategy, providing a $10,000 sponsorship package over the next 12 months to stimulate the local economy.
A key element of the strategy is to invest and develop organisational capability, including digital infrastructure, to support marketing activities and journey curation.
“In response to this, TPC will be launching a new website in July supported by a $150,000 Google Ad campaign that will drive a significant amount of traffic to the website over the next 12 months,” Mr Kerr said.
TPC’s marketing coordinator David Galeano believes the combination of a new website and the Google Ads campaign will significantly raise the awareness of Palm Cove in its target markets and drive substantial sales to the organisation’s members.
“The new website will be state-of-the-art from a consumer engagement perspective as well as optimised for consumer searches and enquiries.
This will make sure that the $150,000 per year Google Ads grant that we have been given really works to maximise bookings for our members,” he said.
TPC’s membership coordinator Jo Clayton is excited about the opportunities for the local tourism industry to really benefit from being a member of TPC.
“Never before has TPC offered so much for its members in marketing our beautiful destination and our members that make Palm Cove so special,” she said.
“There are a range of membership levels available for businesses that they can choose that best suit their marketing plans and I encourage people to jump onto our website and check them out.”
Check out the new website at www.tourismpalmcove.com and see what’s on offer.
