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TOURISM BOOST: Gladstone Airport CEO Colin Fort and GAPDL CEO Darryl Branthwaite at the launch of new airport refurbishments and the Southern Great Barrier Reef brochure

GLADSTONE businesses have again teamed up to launch two new tourism campaigns aimed at showcasing the beauty of the Gladstone Region.

Gladstone Airport unveiled its latest refurbishment alongside the release of Gladstone Area Promotion Development Limited’s new travel brochure at a joint launch on Thursday.

The latest addition to Gladstone Airport’s redevelopment is a panel showcasing Instagram photos carrying the hashtag ‘gladstoneregion’.

It is part of an ongoing plan to lift the profile of the Southern Great Barrier Reef to tourists.

Gladstone Airport CEO Colin Fort said visitors needed a strong first impression.

“The airport’s been working for some time now to raise our footprint with community awareness about… what the region has to offer,” Mr Fort said.

“This feeds into that and visitors to the airport have an opportunity to look at what’s in the region when they arrive, give them a sense of place and as they leave now they have some images they can see.

“We work really closely with GAPDL and by partnering with them we’re linking back to their content, supporting what GAPDL are doing.”

The airport accommodates about 250,000 people through its doors per year.

Alongside the panel was the launch of GAPDL’s latest travel brochure promoting Bundaberg, Gladstone and the Capricorn regions.

While the airport changes seek to target air travel, the brochure helps Gladstone’s drive market to explore and plan holidays in the region.

GAPDL CEO Darryl Branthwaite said the publication doubled as a holiday planner.

“We got 55,000 printed that will go all around the countryside and are in information centres right around Queensland,” Mr Branthwaite said.

“It’s really important we get it out there and that people know about it because they can get online to access it too.

“It goes right out to Springsure through the sandstone wilderness and those feeder roads into our region and primarily targeting the drive market.”