QUICKSILVER GROUP OPENS FOUR GREAT BARRIER REEF SHOPS IN SHANGHAI

December 2007: The Great Barrier Reef and Tropical North Queensland are now the focus of four new retail shops opened in China’s thriving economic centre, the city of Shanghai thanks to an innovative branding project led by the Quicksilver Group.

The newly branded shops were launched on December 14th aimed at promoting Tropical North Queensland’s world heritage icons of the Reef and Rainforest and follow on from the success of similarly branded shops done by the Quicksilver Group in the Southern China provinces of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The four leading Shanghai outbound travel agent retail shops branded with the theme of ‘Cairns, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef’ are Shanghai Spring, Shanghai China Travel International, Shanghai China International Travel Services and Shanghai China Youth Travel Services.

“The newly branded shops bring together a range of quality Great Barrier Reef and Cairns land based touring products to the people of Shanghai and surrounding regions,” said Mr Healy.

“Our goal is to ensure a professional and personalized service to satisfy the needs of Shanghai consumers and the rapidly growing Chinese tourism industry.”

Cairns tourism operators involved in the branding projects include Quicksilver and Great Adventures reef cruises, Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, Kuranda Scenic Rail, Cairns Optional Tours Alliances (COTA), GBR Helicopters, Seawalker @Green Island and Scuba Doo.

While in Shanghai last week, Anthony Teng, Quicksilver Group Sales Manager attended a TV interview to highlight Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. Over 80 packages were sold as a result of the 20minute interview.

“In addition to the support of our Shanghai agents and tourism partners, we commend Tourism Queensland and Tourism Tropical North Queensland for there continued support,” Mr Healy said.