Is there a better place on earth in winter than Mission Beach? Apparently not!
With its wide beaches fringed with coconut palms, sparkling water, cavorting whales andmysterious islands, Mission Beach has all of the curves in all of the right places. So much so that it now looks as though every man and his backpacker is heading that way.
Karen McNally from Mission Beach Business and Tourism said the centre had its busiest July on record and tourist numbers still appeared to be growing despite those who would have us believe that money is tight and the end of the world as we know it is nigh.
Ms McNally said the old brand, Mission Beach Tourism, had been ditched in May and replaced with Mission Beach Business and Tourism. This re-branding was accompanied by a full bottle marketing quest to lure more tourists from places like Townsville and Cairns. And from what she says, it appears that Townsvilleans just love dipping their toes into the waters of Mission Beach. She said the Mission Beach Visitors Information Centre recorded a 20% increase in visitor numbers to the centre in July and that Castaways Resort's July figures were up 23%.
Ms McNally knows her coconuts and said Mission Beach was only one of two places in the world where World Heritage listed rainforest met World Heritage listed reef. The other one she said was Cape Tribulation north of Cairns.
After a major refurbishment, the old and tired Horizons Resort at South Mision Beach was re-invented in June last year as the sumptuous 4.5* Elandra Resort. Its success since then has exceeded all expectations. The Elandra caters to the top end of the market and although manager David Brook said he does not see as many drive through domestic tourists as he would like turning into the drive way, it does draw international visitors, particularly the French. He said one of the big pluses was the large number of Sydney and Melbourne weddings held at the Resort. "We are up on last year's figures, which is good in this current climate and so far we've exceeded all expectations", Mr Brook said.
Matthew Shrimpton is a cameraman-skydiver with Jump the Beach, which this season is dropping 30-40 people a day onto sand between sea and coconut trees at North Mission. He said most the clients were backpackers, who save up their $295 to jump from 14,000 feet. "It's something they save up for," he said.
Townsville Bulletin
22 August 2009