To ease the pressure, additional flights and accommodation to cater for the event have been announced.

Two “cruise ship” hotels have been arranged to offer luxury-standard accommodation for visitors, and additional capacity has also become available in Airlie Beach – about 150km from Mackay.

Daily shuttle buses have been organised to get attendees from Airlie Beach to QME.

Qantas has also announced the addition of a twice-daily 100-seat Fokker aircraft service between Brisbane and Mackay for the event.

Reed Exhibitions exhibition manager Soren Norgaard said these developments would make accommodation and travel arrangements much easier for out-of-town visitors to the event.

“Potential visitors to QME 2008 who had been concerned about the tight availability of accommodation in and around Mackay will find the situation has been significantly eased – although we would still urge those planning to travel to Mackay to get in touch with Mackay Tourism as soon as possible to secure rooms,” he said.

QME 2008 is being held on July 22–24 at Mackay Showgrounds.

For more information on Mackay accommodation, contact Mackay Tourism special projects executive Veronica Malagueno on (07) 4944 5859, at info@mackayregion.com or visit www.mackayregion.com