Whitsunday Coast Airport wins gold at tourism awards

The airport picked up the top gong in the Specialised Tourism category at the Whitsunday Tourism ‘night-of-nights’ to celebrate the achievements of the region’s operators and service providers.

Whitsunday Coast Airport is currently undergoing a $15 million terminal upgrade after a $25 million runway upgrade was completed late 2017.

Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Andrew Willcox said the awards were a great opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of our amazing tourism stakeholders.

“I applaud their resilience and dedication to the tourism industry to ensure the Whitsundays continues to be voted the most popular tourism destination nationally and internationally,” he said.

“Whitsunday Coast Airport is one of the fastest growing regional airports in Australia with a new annual passenger number record of over 470,000 last financial year, an increase of over 115,000 on the 2016/17 figures.

“This was the seventh consecutive year of growth in passenger numbers and we are catering for further increases with these upgrades to ensure visitors to our region enjoy a positive experience when transiting.

“We are the only regional airport between Townsville and Brisbane that has direct flights to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, with all routes showing over 20 per cent growth.

“The award is great recognition for our small but hard-working airport team who are also exploring options with airlines for commencement of a Whitsundays-Cairns direct flight to link with international services into Cairns,” Mayor Willcox said.

“Our airport continues to expand thanks to amazing support from the Palaszczuk government, Tourism Whitsunday, Tourism Events Queensland and our airline partners.”

Council also picked up gold in Festivals and Events for the Whitsunday Clipper Carnival which was a collaborative effort with Abell Point Marina and Tourism Whitsundays.

Other awards won by Council on the night were: SILVER- Whitsunday Regional Council-Airlie Beach Lagoon Project; SILVER – Whitsunday Regional Council- 2018 Great Australian Bites; BRONZE – Whitsunday Regional Council- 2017 Schoolies Week