Southern Queensland — once known for its gardens and bushwalking — has had its reputation turned into that of a danger zone, according to its peak tourism group.
In the past three months, the region has experienced a fatal terrorist attack, police siege, shootings, assaults, stabbings, as well as a major bushfire caused by arson that destroyed 18 homes.
All incidents happened within a range of 250 kilometres, and several occurred in Toowoomba's CBD.
Although isolated events, the prevalence of violence and crime has made national headlines.
It has also prompted an urgent community crime forum, held in Toowoomba last week.
Southern Queensland Country Tourism (SQCT) chief executive Peter Homan said the damage to the region's reputation was already done.
"People quickly forget natural disasters, more so than they do violence and crime," Mr Homan said.
"It's about branding."
The fix? Positivity. Fast.
While SQCT did not have a specific campaign to counter the recent negative press, Mr Homan said one solution was for the group to publish its pre-planned campaign earlier.
"It's a matter of getting those good stories out into the market as well, and try to get them in front of any bad publicity," he said.
"We're coming into events season like the Chinchilla Melon Festival.
"Those memories of watermelon dripping down your chin and spitting out the seeds really helped overcome any negativity issues for us."
Mr Homan said the group has learnt from an unsuccessful tourism push it released after the drought.
"When we were right in the grip of that drought there were some people who wanted to utilise the drought as a reason for people to travel," he said.
"It's just the wrong message.
"I think you've got to underline the great assets and the reason why people want to travel, whether that be walking tracks or nature tourism.
"[Negative press] has been on every front page, every state and national TV. We've got a big job ahead of us."
Mr Homan was confident the region's reputation could bounce back, provided state and local government stepped up to the task.
"Where councillors provide the best investment for tourism is in parks, gardens and walking tracks. They're probably the biggest players in tourism," he said.
"It's [also] a matter of the state government putting the right plans in place, the right legislation, to control that crime."
Caravan park pleas for tourists to stay
Toowoomba was not the only city across regional Queensland to suffer from a reputation problem.
Mount Isa caravan park manager Kylie Rixon said this year had been the worst she had seen for crime.
"The crime we're seeing is completely opportunistic," Ms Rixon said.
"If you're going to leave your grog, smokes or money out the chances are ... it won't be there the next morning.
"There's certainly no discrimination against tourists or locals. It's everyone in town."
Ms Rixon has taken it upon herself to ensure tourists felt protected and safe.
"We have had enquiries every single day saying, 'I've heard it's bad'," she said.
"I found that the bookings weren't really affected, but the communication and the things we did to ensure that people felt safe, and that we were protecting our guests, was time-consuming.
"It's just a lot of work put into reassuring people that it's OK. Just lock your stuff up."
Ms Rixon said she hoped the public would look beyond the town's headlines.
"Don't let that reputation put you off coming, because these small towns and our regions rely on tourism," she said.
"It's my blood, sweat and tears. This is our lifeline.
"We're still a good community and it would break my heart for people not to visit because of that [crime]."
