Parker Travel Collection

               

Following a successful opening in August, Brett Stallbaum, Manager of Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walkway is proud to announce that in its first two months of operation over 8000 people experienced the new icon.

To further spread the word, a major film shoot was recently undertaken to capture the beauty of the attraction and its surrounding environment. The result is a fully established photo and film library ready for distribution, including several versions of a short training film on Mamu. The film was released late last week to the Tropical North Queensland Visitors Information Centre to its band of volunteers and can be viewed above.

Mr Stallbaum’s team are now working with Mamu’s sales and marketing appointed partner, Parker Travel Collection, to spread the word across the world using its newly released ‘media’ comprising moving footage and imagery. The objective is to reach millions across the world using distribution via tourism authorities, online, wholesale and retail travel agents.

Mr Stallbaum said “This project has allowed Government and private sectors to work together in harmony, and now we have the visual imagery to show the rest of the world and attract even more people to the region.”

This imagery is an important tool in the sales and marketing process, Todd Parker, Managing Director of Parker Travel Collection congratulated the attraction for investing in the image and film footage library.

According to Mr Parker, “Its readiness for distribution is perfect timing. With ‘Australia’ the movie in the headlines and its stunning rainforest imagery, the media produced will effectively highlight our domestic and international visitors to the depth of experiences available in Tropical North QLD.”                                                                                   

 

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This year Parker Travel Collection launched its global tourism marketing network with new divisions established for the Asian and Continental European markets. This week the expansion continued with the opening of a sales office in Korea.

This latest development was celebrated on Thursday 31 July 2008, with an official opening attended by 70 tourism industry professionals and performed by Queensland’s Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry, Hon. Desley Boyle MP.

The event took place at Paradise Palms Resort and Country Club’s newly opened venue, Fifty Nine Restaurant and Bar from 6pm. Along with Parker Travel Collection’s team from Cairns, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne offices, this event will serve as an opportunity for key members of the region’s tourism industry to meet with new staff, Ronnie Kim, Irene Park and Henry Han.

According to Todd Parker, managing director of Parker Travel Collection, this event signifies the opening of a dedicated sales office in Seoul and sub-branch in Daegu.

“Parker Travel Collection’s Korean Sales Office will be located in well-known tourism company, Korean Tourism Relations (KTR) that is headed up by Ronnie Kim and supported by Irene Park.

“KTR has been extremely successful in the tourism marketing arena promoting Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort and will now add Parker Travel Collection’s portfolio of quality tourism products,” said Todd.

In Korea, Henry Han has been appointed by Mr Parker to look after his company’s interests and in so doing, will be responsible for retail and wholesale selling, training and staying in touch with frontline sellers on a daily basis.

Mr Parker says Korea is a burgeoning tourism marketplace with the second biggest honeymoon market in the world and as such, will be one of his company’s key areas of focus. Others include business incentive style travel, groups, golf and a new program for families. The new Korean language brochure is available online –
www.parkertravelcollection.com/attachments/PTCMEMBERBROKOREAN.pdf
brochures are also printed in Spanish, Chinese and English as part of our global services.

Following the success of Thursday night’s event marking the launch of Parker Travel Collection’s sales office in Korea, Mr Parker would like to acknowledge Minister Boyle’s commitment to tourism and willingness to face all challenges head on.

“We greatly appreciate Desley’s support for our latest development that occurs at a time when tough economic conditions require a much greater focus. This is a time to try new ideas and as has been our mantra from the outset, we want to lead the market. In practice, this requires scientific selling and frequency of contact with travel companies to ensure we remain ‘front of mind,” said Todd.

The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa has blitzed this year’s HMAA Awards achieving five out of five category wins at last night’s gala in Brisbane.

An elated Craig Biber, General Manager of The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa and Vision Hotels and Resorts said he was delighted with the award-haul that exceeded expectation to win everything they entered and more.

While the overall highlight was being named Property of the Year, there was a great deal of personal satisfaction for key team members with Mr Biber winning the new A.C.E.S. Award for his individual contribution to the industry and Executive Housekeeper, Jean Lapthorne awarded Department Manager of the Year.

In addition to these awards, The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa won Best Resort Award while Human Resources Manager, Tess Pinches, who was instrumental in the resort’s training success, was in attendance to accept the Training Award.

Mr Biber said last night’s success is down to a fantastic team of people who work hard to position The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa as a leading accommodation provider with outstanding surroundings, facilities and service.

“This success is also testament to the skill and dedication of our Director of Sales and Marketing, Rosie Douglas,” said Craig.

He continued, “What we have achieved is extra special considering we are an emerging marketing brand competing against established global hotel organisations.”

The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa’s recognition at this year’s HMAA awards caps off an award-winning week with the property’s housekeeping department winning both categories (Jean Lapthorne won Housekeepers Trophy of Excellence and Sue Affleck named Rising Star of the Year) at the inaugural Housekeepers Awards in Cairns and signature restaurant, Lago named Hotel/Motel Restaurant of the Year at the local Restaurant and Caterer’s Awards for the third year running.

The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa is a member of Vision Hotels and Resorts. For more information, visit www.thelakescairns.com.au or www.visionhotelsandresorts.com.au

As the General Manager of Australia’s leading tourism marketing company, Parker Travel Collection, Brock Parker says the current travel trend seeing more and more Australians travelling outbound is the reason behind the appointment of National Sales Manager, Todd Cornford (pictured left).

“With the Aussie dollar hitting a record high and the cost of international air travel dipping to new found lows, we understand and appreciate the reason behind this current trend. But instead of accepting the situation as it is, we are going to fight even harder for our market share.

“In his new role, Todd will be largely responsible for Australian retail management, product training and domestic market support,” said Mr Parker.

Parker Travel Collection wants to make sure domestic tourism maintains a strong presence in the key markets of NSW and Victoria in particular. With Todd at the helm, Parker Travel’s domestic team will launch several initiatives in coming weeks to stimulate travel to the sunshine state including the launch of their well known and award winning Hot Deals to Cool Places campaign.

Todd brings extensive knowledge of the Australian market to his National Sales Manager role, primarily working with the domestic market over the last four years with Australian Pacific Touring.

“Todd's professionalism and high customer service standards, together with a genuine passion to further himself through all facets of the tourism industry place him in a favourable position to excel in his role,” said Mr Parker.

EUROPEAN EXPANSION IMPORTANT for TOURISM FUTURE

Following the launch of its Eastern Hemisphere division in February, Australia's leading tourism marketing company, Parker Travel Collection continues its global expansion program with the appointment of a European Sales Director.

This latest development signifies Parker Travel Collection's commitment to providing a global presence and ongoing faith in the future of Australia's inbound tourism from the key markets of Europe.

As a testament of their confidence in the European market, Parker Travel Collection's Managing Director Todd Parker, has announced the signing of Ms Maria Haglund.

"Maria joins Parker Travel Collection with a wealth of experience in Europe, most recently as a special consultant to the Sydney Opera House. Her role as Director of Sales - Europe has been created especially to focus on generating business from continental markets and our agenda to offer tourism marketing service solutions on a global scale," said Mr Parker.

Keen to dispel rumours threatening the success of Australia's tourism industry, Parker Travel Collection says the situation is definitely not 'doom and gloom' for key international markets in Europe. Robbie Bastion touched down in his home town of Cairns this week after attending the International Tourisme Bourse (ITB)in Berlin. While away, he also conducted a program of sales calls in Munich, Paris, London and Manchester.

ITB is ranked as the largest travel trade show in the world with over 100,000 exhibitors from 62 countries in attendance.

"There's no doubt that 2007 was a very challenging year for tourism from all markets and 2008 has started the same way. However, there are definite signs of resurgence in the vital European markets in the not too distant future.

"By the end of 2007, German visitation to Australia was up two per cent and markets that had been quiet for some years - Italy, Scandinavia and the Netherlands - are all showing signs of a return to more prosperous times.

Cairns. Friday 16 November 2007.The managing director of Parker Travel Collection, Todd Parker is delighted to announce the appointment of Skye Collie as sales executive whose key responsibilities will be retail agent training in the UK and Australia, on-line support and Tourism Business Development.

A self-confessed ‘travel bug’, Skye Collie recently returned to Australia after six years working in the UK travel industry; spending two years with Lunn Poly (now Thomson holidays) before moving to Quest Travel where she spent four years creating tailor-made, long-haul holidays.

According to Mr Parker, Skye will be a valuable member of his team. “She has extensive knowledge of product in Australia and New Zealand and vast experience of directional selling.

“In retail sales she developed a thorough understanding of airline contracts and routings and enjoys an excellent reputation for delivering superb customer service.”

While Skye is a born and bred Queenslander – growing up on the Sunshine Coast - she will now call Cairns home - however her new sales executive role will see her returning to the UK for several months at a time to conduct and oversee retail agent training of Parker Travel Collection’s tourism product portfolio.

Parker Travel Collection is a Tourism Business Development Company that has offices in Cairns, the Gold Coast and Melbourne.

Last week the 8th annual ‘North Queensland ATEC – Inbound Up North’ Mega famil tour took place, this year aptly named the Magical Mystery Tour. The program showcased the Port Douglas, Daintree and Cape Tribulation areas where 50 Inbound Tour Operators (ITO’s) from all over Australia, and 50 suppliers from the region, engaged in workshop and networking activities. The event was organized by the local ATEC committee with assistance from local suppliers and was haled as the most successful event yet. Local Tourism Organizations from around the region also had the chance to showcase their various attributes during the ‘Change your Latitude’ treasure hunt held at Rainforest Habitat. ITO’s followed a series of clues to find each destination, each clue designed to educate ITO’s along the way.

Andrew Dineen (Project Manager – Parker Travel Collection & Vice Chairman for the NQ ATEC branch) said about the tour; ‘Inbound Up North has become a permanent fixture on many ITO’s calendars, and following last years successful event, the aim was to take ITO’s to areas they had not seen for a while, and create an environment away from the daily grind to solidify relationships.’ A goal definitely achieved, testament to the fact was the favorable response to the inaugural ‘Gala Awards’ night held at Coconut Beach Resort on the final day of the itinerary.

Next years itinerary has already taken shape and will involve a swag of new regions and experiences for ITO’s, and suppliers alike. When asked to comment on possible inclusions in next years itinerary, a spokesman from the committee declined to comment.

Pictured above: Liz Crowley – General Manager Operations, AAT Kings, Andrew Dineen – Project Manager, Parker Travel Collection & Vice Chair of NQ ATEC Branch, Gabrielle McCarthy - Manager, Operations and Program Services, Grand Circle Travel Australia, Doug Ryan – Executive Officer, PDDT.

Competing against a line-up of international hotel brands, The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa proved once again that professional independently owned operations can have the final say when it took home the gong for both awards categories it entered winning Deluxe Accommodation and Tourism Education & Training at Tropical North Queensland’s Tourism Awards in Cairns on Saturday night.

General Manager for the resort, Craig Biber was in attendance to accept the award that he says, is a real coup for an independently owned and operated property.

This is the second year running The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa has won the Deluxe Accommodation category at TNQ’s Tourism Awards and comes hot on the heels of bagging HMAA’s ‘Best 4-5 Star Resort’, ‘Training’ and ‘Operator of the Year’ awards (Qld) as well as its signature restaurant, Lago, winning ‘Best Hotel / Resort Restaurant’ at the Restaurant and Caterer’s Awards.

“These awards are testament to the hard work and commitment of our entire team whose day-to-day mission is to provide guests with world-class accommodation and a memorable experience.

“On a bigger picture level, this acknowledgement from industry underscores the value of independent operators who are becoming less and less with the increase of global hotel operators who posses bigger brand power and bigger marketing budgets.

“As an independent, we work hard to make up the shortfall in brand and dollars by providing a unique product that responds quickly to changing market trends, along with creating a culture that supports and encourages staff to provide very personal service. Our success relies heavily on the guest experience so it’s critical to ensure the product and the service operate hand in hand.”