General News
16 April, 2025
Tourism momentum growing
FROM building agri-tourism or creating coffee trails, to finding hidden gems like the labyrinth at Mt Molloy, tourism in the Mareeba Shire is building momentum, a Chamber of Commerce lunch heard recently.
Mareeba Local Tourism Operations (LTO) chair and Deputy Mayor Lenore Wyatt said “tourism is a significant contributor to the economy”.
Presenting the LTO’s latest updates, Cr Wyatt said the shire attracted $162.2 million in tourism spend during 2022-23 – the highest amount on record based on the most recent figures available.
What was “really exciting” was that the LTO, formed two years ago, had become an incorporated entity in November.
“Now we are a not-for-profit, with a board of directors representing all of the tourist industry, it opens up new opportunities to seek out grants so we can focus on budding industries and hidden gems,” Cr Wyatt said.
The LTO was borne out of the council’s Mareeba Tourism funding arm and the Chamber of Commerce, which was also a major financial contributor. Bendigo Bank had also backed the LTO and was “fantastic in supporting our networking events”, and Tourism Tropical North Queensland had been matching a council funding arrangement and assisting with promotional material.
Those entities were still major contributors to the LTO, but the operation would no longer come under any one umbrella, Cr Wyatt explained. This allowed it to have greater control over decision-making and provide more targeted focus for the region’s tourism industry.
One such focus raised at the lunch was the growing trend for agri-tourism. A key agri-tourism representative will be attending the Rotary Fields Days in May and the LTO has jumped on the chance to show off the region.
“We will be taking her on a tour bus around the Mareeba Shire while she is here to expose her to what we have to offer,” Cr Wyatt said.
“I mean when you look at what is here, the Golden Drop mango winery, that came out of a mango property, one of our earliest successes; Skybury Coffee, where they just grew coffee – now look at it, it’s mind-blowing; and Jacques Coffee another great place to visit.
“We’ve been told that coffee is big so we’re considering creating a coffee trail for the region,” she added.
“Station visits are another budding industry, opening up properties to camping. It’s one of the potential ways for smaller size farms to be able to get extra funds. There’s lots of potential and the more we have, the more people will come.”
The driving tour in May would also show off some hidden gems, Cr Wyatt said, as well as the bigger ticket items, such as Kuranda.
The latter was lately reaping the benefits of spectacular bud lighting on the village centre’s 14 fig trees.
Cr Wyatt said the community was already seeing more nightlife, such as at the Butterfly shop which recently advertised a trivia night, or the popular Petite Café, which had extended its opening hours. This all helped grow visitation.
The LTO was also working closely with agencies such as the Road Traffic Authority, and groups like Atherton Tourism, which was bringing Tablelands tourism into a “collective family”.
“A lot of businesses had felt they were getting lost in the noise”, Cr Wyatt said.
But connections were building, especially through the networking events. One great example was the cross-promotion developed between the Emerald Creek Ice Creamery and the Ford Museum.
Similarly, the growth of social media, website management and revamps of the Visit Mareeba and Kuranda Village tourism pages had provided more connectivity and capacity building for tourism organisations.
“We provide access to a national tourism database if you become a member of LTO,” Cr Wyatt said. “We had eight listings from the region to start with, now we have 30.”
She pointed out that the LTO was free to join, but that would change on 1 July, so she encouraged tourism operators and businesses to “get in early”.
Tourism campaigns such as “Hidden Gems”, which had singled out places such as Julatten and Mt Molloy, had also proved a hit.
“The Labyrinth in Mt Molloy is lovely, and not everyone knows about it,” Cr Wyatt said. “It’s kept going by a volunteer.”
(The Labyrinth is currently waterlogged and best visited in the dry season between June and October.)
LTO has also created a key events calendar and introduced driving itineraries which are mentioned in a 25-minute Overland Travellers video, “What to do on the way to the Cape”.
“We are really proud of what the LTO is doing,” Cr Wyatt said. “Let’s face it, tourism is everyone’s business.”
