A Taiwanese interpreter has blitzed her competition to become the ‘wild card’ candidate for Tourism Queensland’s Best Job in the World.
Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes said voting for the single ‘wild card’ candidate spot for Tourism Queensland’s Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef closed today with Taiwan’s Clare Wang receiving 151,676 votes – almost three times that of her nearest competitor.
“Voting closed at 9.59am this morning and we are delighted to announce Clare Wang is our Wild Card candidate. We look forward to welcoming her to the final selection process in May,” Mr Hayes said.
“Clare has done a remarkable job of promoting her quest for the Best Job in the World in Taiwan and has become an overnight media celebrity.
“She has been in virtually every newspaper, on every TV network in the country, plus online media and social networking sites.
“Not only has she gained the support of the Taiwanese people, she has done an amazing job of promoting Queensland and the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef – which is exactly what the Best Job in the World campaign is all about.”
Mr Hayes said all up 475,855 votes were received during the Wild Card voting process.
The second highest number of votes was received by Mitchell from Canada with 55,532, followed by George from Ireland with 30,372 votes.
The five Australians named in the top 50 included Brisbane’s Hailey Turner who received 2456 votes; the Gold Coast’s David Whitehill with 2362 votes; Sheree Mariss from Victoria with 1308 votes; NSW’s Chris Bray with 1197 votes; and Airlie Beach’s James Hill with 1134 votes.
Mr Hayes said these candidates, along with the other remaining Top 50, would continue to be considered for a place in the Top 10, which would be chosen by Tourism Queensland and announced on April 3.
“With more than 34,000 applications, the Island Caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef is arguably the most sought-after job in the world,” Mr Hayes said.
“In early March we short-listed down to 50 and since then the Top 50 have been doing their utmost to gain as much media publicity as possible.
“This has included a raft of TV, radio and press interviews, setting up blogs, forums and websites and organising media stunts to garner publicity.
“Our Brisbane applicant Hailey even embarked on a whirlwind round the world trip promoting her candidacy.
“In short we have had 50 Queensland ambassadors around the world promoting the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
“It will now be a very tough job for us to short-list a Top 10 to join Clare.”
Mr Hayes said the Top 10 would be announced on April 3 and - along with Clare - would fly to Hamilton Island in early May to take part in the final selection process with the successful candidate announced on May 6.
“The worldwide response to Tourism Queensland’s Best Job in the World campaign has been nothing short of phenomenal and already we have achieved around $100 million worth of global publicity for Queensland,” Mr Hayes said.
“The key is for Tourism Queensland and the wider Queensland tourism industry to convert this global interest into visitors to Queensland - to bring more tourist dollars into Queensland’s economy, protect existing tourism jobs and hopefully create new ones.”
The campaign offers a unique ‘Island Caretaker’ role – an $AUD150,000 contract for six months beginning July 1.
The successful candidate will be based on Hamilton Island and will spend their time exploring the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef and reporting back on their experiences.
For further information on the selection process, including timelines, visit www.islandreefjob.com.
