Rainbow Realty Deal December 2012

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” Sam Walton

The past month has seen some movement in the local property market with a number of properties going ‘under contract’; including some ‘higher end’ homes and units. There seems to be a misconception from some observers that the property market is ‘dead’ (or at least on life support anyway J) however, we have seen sales ranging from a one bedroom unit for less than $200,000 all the way up to a $1 million + home on prestigious Cooloola Drive. Anyone that thought that everybody was just holding onto their money until the market recovers – well – they might not have it quite right.

The current property market could best be described as a great time to buy. With a lot of stock on the market and plenty of vendors keen to make a deal – we are actively encouraging prospective buyers to be bold and ‘make an offer’ because you might just be surprised with the results.

We have definitely observed an increase in buyer enquiry and visitor numbers to town over the past three months. Holiday bookings are looking pretty healthy for the summer holidays and we have had a steady stream of guests/visitors to town since the September school holidays. The weather has certainly assisted this (with close to 5 weeks of no rain throughout September/October). In addition, we are firm believers that the “Discover Rainbow Beach Campaign” is really working.

The Rainbow Beach Commerce and Tourism Association have been working with a small group of local business in conjunction with Gympie Cooloola Tourism to promote Rainbow Beach through television advertising. The group is now in its second year of advertising and this year alone, has generated financial resources of $60,000 to run the 2012 TV campaign. Both Southern Cross 10 and Channel 7 have been used to date and it has been a great learning curve in understanding TV advertising and where the best values are in TV programming.

The ads run 'Top and Tail' with a generic ad run first during an ad break followed by one of the ads from the contributing business. You may have seen the ads recently on Channel 10 – most often during prime time TV shows such as ‘The Project’ and ‘Modern Family’. Currently the businesses involved are Cooloola Coast Realty (promoting Holiday Accommodation), Rainbow Sea Resort, Breakfree Rainbow Shores Resort, Baitrunner Fishing Charters, the Bluewater Lodges development (Rainbow Shores), and Fraser Island Beach Houses. Other contributors (2011) have been The Getaway Resort, The Plantation Apartments and the Rainbow Beach Hotel. The group, which is being managed through Rainbow Beach Commerce and Tourism and Gympie Cooloola Tourism are always looking for other business to be involved. The campaign itself is intended to run over a number of years so we can build the Rainbow Beach 'brand' and grow on its successes.

The Discover Rainbow Beach campaign is quite unique in that it involves a number of separate businesses cooperating to pool their advertising dollars in order to get more ‘bang for buck’. Many other tourist towns and regions have tried to run similar campaigns; however it has been a bit like “herding cats” in terms of getting a group of individual business owners to agree on a concept and work together without getting upset about whether or not someone might be benefitting more than someone else.

The main focus of the initiative is to bring more people to Rainbow Beach and promote the natural attractions of our beautiful location and surrounding areas. More visitors to town ultimately buy more clothing, eat more food, take more tours and hopefully choose to stay in one of our various accommodation options. In a small town the same money changes hands multiple times and therefore every business in town benefits from increased tourist numbers. It is really about making sure that all businesses grow and prosper and do more than just 'survive'. This growth will eventually translate into providing the community (and especially our young people) with opportunity and increased infrastructure such as health and education resources.

Finally, this month – Did you know that Rainbow Beach has made it onto a list of ‘101 Best Beaches’ in Australia? There is a new book and a website (www.101bestbeaches.com) that lists our very own Rainbow Beach as a great beach because of the “coloured sands, big dunes, calm waters in the south and surf in the north.” There were only 21 beaches from Queensland named in the book and Caloundra, Mooloolaba, Maroochydore and Noosa all missed out on a place on the list. (Although
Tea Tree Beach, near Noosa, made it on the list). The list itself (along with the book and website) was put together by authors Andy Short and Brad Farmer. Together, they have visited every one of Australia’s 11,761 mainland beaches, arguably making them uniquely qualified to tell us which are the ones we have to see before we die. We are stoked that Rainbow Beach made it on the list AND Fraser Island’s stunning Seventy Five Mile Beach also got a place on the list. We knew it all along but now everyone will know that we’ve got two amazing beaches right on our doorstep!

Finally, we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Stay safe