Townsville Enterprise Media Release

14 Mar 2007

The first North Queensland operators to go live with Queensland Online have tasted immediate success. Spanish Lace Motor Inn, Hidden Valley Cabins and City Oasis Inn all have sales reported since going live last week. 13 room nights were booked directly through the individual operator’s websites within just days of going live. These bookings came from around the globe with visitors coming to the region from as far afield as Sweden, and interstate bookings from Winton, Sydney and Wollongong.

Spanish Lace Motor Inn scored the first sale and owner Tim McNamara couldn’t be happier with the new online booking system.

"We went live on the 1st of March and we’ve had a couple of bookings - the first one came through on the 7th and we’ve had another one since then. The system works well. I’m a fan of it and I’m a fan of the concept. No doubt when other people get online it will work in everyone’s favour," Mr McNamara said.

Statistics show that an increasing number of holidays are being researched and booked online. Mr McNamara believes that getting a critical mass of local operators online is vital for the region’s future as a tourism destination.

"If we had all the accommodation operators in Townsville online it would make it a lot easier to refer guests to other businesses in peak times when vacancies are few and far between. That may not be possible but the more operators who get online the better. It’s a cooperative effort," he said.

The teething process has been relatively pain free even for the first cabs off the rank - and with 50 operators signing up for the system it won’t be long before the region can truly claim to be well represented online.

"Like anything it takes time to get around the system and get it set up, but once it’s up and running it’s as easy to use as any other system. When you’re doing a group booking it’s a lot easier than the system we were using before," Mr McNamara said.

"It’s given us the opportunity to book online in real time. Under past systems guests would occasionally arrive before the notification email," he said.

Mr McNamara sees an advantage in getting online early but thinks the long term benefits will spread throughout the region.

"I think being online will give us a bit of exclusivity when compared to those people who aren’t online - but there are other advantages through partnerships with distributors. I think it’s going to increase our business particularly as more people get online and we start to make things easier for the visitor," he said.

Queensland Online is being offered free of charge to Townsville Enterprise members until the end of March, then $100 from April onwards. Non-members can sign up for a special price of $200 during March then $300 from April onwards.

For more information contact Nathan Campbell on (07) 4726 2753 or 0434 182 765 Tim McNamara (07) 4725 1510