Michael Nelson

Michael is the owner and Managing Director of Pinnacle Tourism Marketing. His experience spans over 30 years in the tourism and hospitality industry. He has occupied senior roles within sales and marketing departments of some of Tropical North Queensland’s most iconic tourism products, including Great Adventures Outer Reef and Island Cruises, the five star Green Island Resort and Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. 

In 2006 Michael started Etch Tourism Marketing, a company offering professional representative and consultative services to products in the tourism industry.This evolved in 2011 to Pinnacle Tourism Marketing.

Pinnacle Tourism Marketing has now grown to represent over 25 SME’s and helps them navigate their way through the dynamic world of tourism distribution and sales and marketing. As well as directly representing these businesses, Michael has created, developed and been a part of, a significant number of mentoring programs for emerging tourism businesses in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Queensland. He is regarded as an industry expert who is able to immediately immerse himself into a tourism product or project and cultivate solutions and strategies.

From his experience in the industry, Michael has secure relationships with major wholesalers in the UK, Europe and North America, and within the Inbound and Domestic Wholesale industry in Australia, as well as at RTO, STO and NTO level. In 2015 Michael won the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) award for Most Significant Contribution by an Individual to ATEC. In 2023, Michael was a finalist for the Captain Trevor Howath Award for Most Significant Contribution to the Inbound Industry.

Michael holds the following voluntary positions.
Past Director of the ATEC National Executive (6 years).
Past Board and Chair of Cairns Cancer Charity COUCH.
Current Secretary of the Cairns Taipans – Cairns’ National Basketball League Team.