Management and Promotion of Tourism

Graeme Faulkner Comments on the Management and Promotion of Tourism

Q. Changes to the management and promotion of tourism in the shire were initiated before you arrived. Do you think those changes are the correct way to go for an industry many see as the mainstay of the local economy?

A. Tourism is the Shire’s greatest business asset but it is also a poorly performing asset, with great risk attached to the Shire’s reliance upon it in the absence of any other commercial/industrial or service growth opportunities.

Tourism operators and others may wish to comment below.

The prolonged infighting among local tourism operators, particularly in Merimbula, has in my view held the industry back for many years, making it that much more difficult to compete with competitors that have far more developed tourism product to offer.

The Council’s decision to establish the administrative structure for the tourism industry at arm’s length both from Council and vested tourism interests, while made before my commencement with Council, is appropriate and mirrors the successful models seen in Cairns and the Queensland Coast generally.

The independence of the governing Board for the Tourism industry is an absolute necessity to ensure objective decision-making based on substantial research analysed by parties who do not have a conflict of interest between what’s good for the industry as a whole and their more specific daily business interests.

While the establishment of an independent administrative structure has been determined, there is a role for Council in the provision of tourism related infrastructure in its own right and the facilitation of tourism-related infrastructure built by the private sector.

Additionally, Council should consider entering into a partnership arrangement with the industry representative body for purposes of funding promotional campaigns, perhaps on a strictly dollar for dollar basis.

Neither Council nor the tourism industry participants should lose sight of the need to establish and diversify the commercial base of the shire to add to economic growth, and employment and to further underwrite the existing tourism base.

Our tourism markets will always be subject to market fluctuations arising from competition generally, and more recently, oil price increases, interest rate increases and disposable income levels of those holiday makers that comprise the particular markets for our tourism sector.