Whitsunday Holidays Blog

Day 0 - 7th January, 2010 - Just arrived in London!

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Clare and I arrived to snow!  We are looking forward to encouraging the Londonites to come to warm and sunny Hamilton Island.

We arrived at Excel London and saw that our stand was coming along nicely.

The Show is huge!  There are so many exhibitors and all really well presented.  There is an exciting atmosphere!  Really looking forward to seeing the Show in full swing tomorrow.

Day 1 - Friday, 8th January 2010 - The first day of the London International Boat Show

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The Stand is ready and Clare and I are in position to start selling our beautiful Hamilton Island!

We seem a bit out of place in our crisp white linen, but that was the whole idea.  We wanted to stand out and look bright and cheerful in this grey and depressing weather!

The organisers have confirmed that they have already sold more than 10,000 tickets - 12% ahead of 2009!

Attendance at the Show today: 6,021
 

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Day 2 - Saturday, 9th January 2010

I am late with the update as we were busy handing out brochures and talking to potential guests!  We had such good interest today!  Quite a few firm quotes were also asked for.  Overall quite a positive day!  Our video showing on our 3 x Plasma TVs are a huge success.  It catches peoples attention and they stop to watch!  That's when Clare and I start convincing them that their next holiday should definitely be Hamilton Island!

It reached a high of 2 degrees today!

Attendance at the Show today: 11,704

Day 3 - Sunday, 10th January 2010

Another productive day at the London Boat Show. Our brochures introducing the new Hamilton Island Yacht Club and Golf Course were very popular today!

Still snowing off and on, we are very glad to be inside!

Attendance at the Show today: 9056.

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Day 4 - Monday, 11th January 2010

 We ventured out of the Docklands this evening and dined at Jamie Oliver's restaurant at Canary Wharf - Jamie's Italian.  Unfortunately Jamie wasnt there to say hello to, but we were given the napkins to take home with us as a souvenir.

  Attendance at the show today: 5738.
 

Day 5 - Tuesday, 12th January 2010

 It is snowing again today and it appears to have deterred some people from coming out to the Show.  It is a little quiet, but a lot of interest from the people that did venture out!

The Show organisers are telling us that numbers are down on last year.  Oh no!  Still 5 days to go though....

Attendance at the show today: 6709.
 

Day 6 - Wednesday, 13th January 2010

Royalty at the Show!  Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne visited the Show today.  She walked right by our stand.  Didnt give us the opportunity to talk to her about the Whitsundays and Hamilton Island!  I had some great options ready to discuss with her too!

Quote of the Day: 'I'm not going to Australia - there are too many spiders there!'  Ha!

Attendance at the show today: 6853
 

Day 7 - Thursday, 14th January 2010

Today was a big day!  11 hours on the stand - 10am to 9pm!  It was quite busy toward the afternoon and into the evening.  We provided quite a few firm quotes today.

Attendance at the show today: 12,233. 

Organisers are telling us that numbers are down 18%.  Disappointing but we are happy with the interest so far.
 

Day 8 - Friday, 15th January 2010

Very productive day!  We confirmed a couple of good bookings today.  Guests are mixing their Whitsunday trip into part Hamilton Island accommodation and part Whitsunday Yacht Charter!  That is the perfect Hamilton Island and Whitsunday holiday!

Our brochures are very popular!  The video has also proven to be a huge hit.  Have you seen it?  Follow this link:
http://www.whitsundayholidays.com.au/index-video.php 

Attendance at the show today: 10,081. 

Day 9 - Saturday, 16th January 2010

Wow!  What a day!  Our biggest day yet!  The show was packed to the rafters.  We confirmed another couple of bookings today! We went through a heap of brochures!  Very excited. 

We ventured out of the Docklands again today and went into Mayfair to Nobu Japanese restaurant.  Apparently there were a couple of celebrities there and the paparazzi were lurking around the entrance.

Attendance at the show today: estimated at just under $20,000!  Waiting on confirmation. 

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Day 10 - Sunday, 17th January 2010

Last day at the Show today.  What a long 10 days it has been!  But well worth it.  We had so much interest and we are confident that we will be receiving a lot of emails over the next few months.

We had to celebrate with a champagne in the last hour!  Cheers!

Attendance at the show today: tba