Today I attended the QTIC - State of play seminar in Brisbane City on tourism trends

7.30 am start is quite early when you live in Bayside Brisbane ... I had forgotten what it meant to be in the car each morning for 1 hour (since I have a nice comfy home office). But I do enjoy listening to Meschel Ash Kip and Lutzy from Nova. So after almost 2 heart attacks realising that underground parking in the city for 3 hours averages close to $45 dollars, (I am great at reversing right in front of the entry boom gate) I shopped around and found one for $30. Ha. $30 dollars. Christ. What a bargain. Not.

The event was well worth the traffic and the parking cost though. I even managed to catch up with my former amazing colleague Emma Berg from Gold Coast Tourism.

QTIC's even had 3 fabulous speakers:

• Jane Ianniello, International Director – Tourism, Travel and Leisure, Roy Morgan Research presenting on the aging Australian population... over 50% of Aussies are over 50! and they are the ones who travel the most with the most disposable income. Is your business doing anything about it?

• Tracy Vincent, Senior Consumer Analyst – Research, Tourism Queensland who presented on the growth of the short break market.... in Queensland there has been a shift from week long holidays to short breaks (1-3 days). Small and medium businesses, here is an opportunity to piggy back on each other and present some nice options to the customer who can bundle packages himself.

• Keith Dugdale, Chief Executive Officer, IOWEU International. I had never heard Keith speak before, and oh my god, I think I need to attend a few more Toastmaster public speaking meetings before I reach his level of expertise in front of an audience. Keith's presentation was all about training front line staff to talk to the customer the way he/she wants to be talked to. This reminded me about a nice story of how badly I was treated at a "a Taste of Texas" restaurant in Cleveland, QLD.... (next post?)

All in all, a top quality event, that QTIC, once again set up. I even won a Riverlife sports adventure in Brisbane voucher! Thanks to Emma who trashed one of ur biz cards by putting my name on it! I owe you!