After leaving the building industry in Cairns in 1980, John was very fortunate to begin his hospitality career under the mentoring of some of Queensland leading industry lights – John and Marilyn Morris of the Santana Group and Jim and Jo Wallace of Quiksilver Connection fame. John was contracted to the Santana Group over a period of 10 years in Port Douglas and during that time, acted as Project Consultant on new developments and provided General Management in others. The skills honed in this period focussed on all aspects of Resort Management, Food and Beverage and due to his trade skills, Resort Refurbishment and Development. This was put to good use in the purchase of his own highly successful and extremely popular iconic Motel and Restaurant, Coconut Grove in Port Douglas in 1982. John then joined with other major North Queensland operators who were Tourism Pioneers to represent the Port Douglas and Cairns region to the largely unchartered domestic and international markets. John was also a founding member and later Chairman of the Port Douglas and Daintree Tourist Association and a Councillor representing Port Douglas (Division 2) with the Douglas Shire Council during the Skase Development era of the late 1980’s.

John’s talents lay in his passion for the tourism industry, his eye for business opportunities and his innovative ideas on design, development and refurbishment as well as his marketing expertise. This passion for the industry is as strong now as it was in 1981. In 1997, John made a conscious decision to take these years of expertise and bring it to the then “CaravanPark” industry which John had earmarked as the “future” for tourism in Australia.

Karen had an earlier background in accounting, advertising and films before rekindling her experience in major hotels which had started with the Sydney Hyatt Kingsgate and which saw Karen part of the opening team of the Sheraton Mirage, Port Douglas in 1987. Meeting John in Port Douglas meant that Karen had found not only her life partner but also a perfect fit in terms of ability and drive. Together they commenced their business and have grown DTM from just two principals in 1987 to a current staffing level of over 25 full and part time employees and 15 contractors.

In between, Karen and John have managed to raise children their two children, Jessica and D’Arcy. Jessica has been accepted by Southern Cross University to study a Bachelor of Business in Tourism Management in 2010 and until such time is busy working with her parents, honing her industry skills.

This goes a long way to satisfying Karen’s goal of seeing the Holiday Park industry provide an opportunity for career paths for those young people who historically would look to the Hotel industry. It is the reason behind her support and active participation in the local Years 11 and 12 Work Experience programmes. Karen feels it is vitally important to keep the industry strong and full of youthful initiative and ideas and be able to keep abreast of technology – the pathway of our industry’s future. Karen’s expertise lies in administration, training, procedures and Reservation Systems as well as marketing and promotion.