Dubai, May 01: Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, Ben Southall whose employee contract mandated that he feed the fish, watch the whales, collect the post and explore tropical paradise islands is in Dubai to show why the Best Job in the World can be the Best Tourist Getaway in the world. “My job is to make people just that little bit jealous,” Southall says.
The 34-year-old charity fundraiser from Hampshire made headlines last year when he beat 34,000 applicants to clinch the ‘Best Job in the World’, a competition rolled out by Tourism Queensland. From May to December 2009, Southall wore a wetsuit to work and had the sun, sand and surf for his workstation on the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Though the deadlines of diving, snorkeling and jet skiing are over, the dream isn’t as Southall is touring the world to share his adventures and hopes to influence people to vacation in Queensland.
“UAE is a big provider of tourism business to Australia and that is one of the main reasons I’m here,” said Southall who now dons the hat of Queensland’s Tourism Ambassador.
“I’ve been to Japan, America and just got back from China where I saw a lot of interest,” he said, during an interview with Khaleej Times at the Dubai Men’s College. UAE is the 61st country on his tour.
During his six-month stint, the caretaker stayed in a plush villa on the Hamilton Island and his commute by helicopters, jet skis or kayaks were to 62 neighbouring islands along the Great Barrier Reef. “It was an actual job,” stresses the caretaker who went to university with a desire to design cars.
“I was having an adventure but every evening I would have to blog, give interviews and post photos and videos because people were following up through social networking platforms.”
The campaign by Queensland tourism is being touted as one of the best social media marketing strategies. Quantifying it, Southall said during the peak of the economic downturn, Queensland’s tourism managed to stay afloat. “The other Australian states saw numbers of inbound tourists drop by 15 to 25 per cent and though Queensland did not have a rise it did not see a drop either.”
Between September and November 2009, Queensland saw the number of UK tourists increase by 74 per cent and Chinese vacationers by more than 200 per cent. “Now, with people starting to get their money back into their pockets we hope to see tourism figures grow,” he said.
Southall has his agenda sorted for the UAE market. “There is a big scuba diving industry here and that will attract the locals to head to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders in the world.”
“It’s got more to it than any other place I’ve dived in the world and very impressive with the aquatic life and the migrating whales. For people who love rainforests… and you do not have them in Dubai, the trip will be quite unique. And for the desert goers, the outback is very appealing.”
So, if the ‘Best Job’ would not have come his way, Southall would have been an expedition manager. “I like organising and meeting other people and I’ve always wanted to helps others believe they can do something and then plan it for them,” he says. “I can still be that because in the middle of next year, I will be taking 40 children to the Great Barrier Reef and after that, I want to drive around Australia… all ideal jobs that are actually becoming a reality.”
–Agencies