{"id":19762,"date":"2014-07-29T09:11:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T09:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/immerse-yourself-with-the-humpbacks-at-hervey-bay\/"},"modified":"2014-07-29T09:11:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T09:11:00","slug":"immerse-yourself-with-the-humpbacks-at-hervey-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2014\/07\/immerse-yourself-with-the-humpbacks-at-hervey-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Immerse yourself with the humpbacks at Hervey Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hervey Bay\u2019s renowned whale encounters are about to get even more up close and personal with the launch of one of the world\u2019s first immersive humpback experiences this winter.<\/span><\/span>
\"Immerse<\/p>\n


<\/span><\/span>Fraser Coast Opportunities has announced that select charter operators will host immersive whale tours on a trial basis this season, allowing visitors to take the plunge into the humpbacks\u2019 domain and share life-changing connections with the gentle giants of the deep.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Tourism manager for Fraser Coast Opportunities Robbie Cornelius said the immersive whale experience would consolidate Hervey Bay\u2019s reputation as Australia\u2019s premium humpback viewing destination.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWe have been working very closely with the State Government and our tourism operators to get the project to trial stage,\u2019\u2019 Mr Cornelius said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cObviously the welfare of the whales is paramount, as well as the safety of the participants, so we wanted to ensure all the checks and balances were in place before we could officially welcome our first customers.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cNeedless to say, the whale watch operators involved will be required to abide by the existing regulations under the Nature Conservation Act, as well as the conditions of their existing permits.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cNowhere else in Australia or even the world offers a humpback whale experience comparable with Hervey Bay because the whales stay to play for extended periods and are not just migrating through,\u2019\u2019 Mr Cornelius said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Member for Hervey Bay, Ted Sorensen, said the immersive experience would be a huge tourism drawcard for the region.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cNo other destination provides anything as intimate, up close and personal as the Fraser Coast whale watching experience which will enter a whole new dimension with this exciting new offering for visitors to our region,\u2019\u2019 Mr Sorensen said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cFor the first time, people will be able to venture into the water with the whales and totally immerse themselves in their world.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cInnovative experiences such as this are well suited to the world class natural attributes of the Fraser Coast region, and will greatly assist the industry in reaching its 2020 visitor expenditure target of $759 million.\u201d he said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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General Manager for Fraser Coast Opportunities David Spear said the program would provide significant economic benefits for the Fraser Coast.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWe have worked very carefully to ensure we would introduce an innovative and world-class product befitting our unique natural environment that had upsides for the whole community,\u2019\u2019 Mr Spear said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWe are optimistic of a successful trial period and then making the immersive whale experience a permanent inclusion in our tourism offering.<\/span><\/div>\n

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“More than 7,000 whales visit our protected waters each season and stay for up to 10 days at a time. This happens nowhere else along the migration where the whales are moving through the open ocean,” he said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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“We have a large concentration of whales gathering within the relatively small space of the bay and thanks to the protection offered by Fraser Island, we have this safe sanctuary for the whales and the perfect platform of calm waters for people to engage and interact with these incredible creatures.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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Book your Hervey Bay whale experience now at www.whalesherveybay.com.au<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hervey Bay\u2019s renowned whale encounters are about to get even more up close and personal with the launch of one of the world\u2019s first immersive humpback experiences this winter. Fraser Coast Opportunities has announced that select charter operators will host immersive whale tours on a trial basis this season, allowing visitors to take the plunge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}