April 9, 2012
The final form that a new regional tourism organisation covering Toowoomba, the South Burnett, the Southern Downs and the Granite Belt will take should be known by next month.
At a meeting held in Kingaroy last Wednesday night, South Burnett tourism operators heard that because of differences between the structures of the existing Toowoomba and Southern Downs regional tourism organisations, a successful merger would require both groups to be dissolved in order to form a single, new regional tourism organisation for the area.
Consultants engaged by a Transition Advisory Board set up to oversee the merger are currently exploring possible ways to effect this.
Mark Olsen of EC3 Global – one of the two consultancies hired to coordinate the merger – told the meeting that they hope to have an answer finalised in May, with the aim of having the new body operating by July 1 this year.
Mr Olsen and Regional Tourism Organisation CEO Mary-Clare Power also sought feedback from local operators about what functions they’d like to see a new Regional Tourism Organisation carry out for members.
South Burnett Tourism Association vice president Shannon Scott from Taste South Burnett said that the meeting – which was attended by about 20 local operators – was “positive and constructive”.
“We felt that the consultants genuinely wanted our feedback and quite a few ideas were floated about possible future directions the new organisation could look at.”
Mr Scott said he also felt that the recent change in the State Government was unlikely to derail the merger plans.
“Tourism is one of the “Four Pillars” of the economy under the new LNP Government,” he said. “So while any changes the Government may want to make to the existing Tourism Queensland structure are still unknown, we don’t see any reason to set plans for the new organisation aside.
“No matter what happens, looking at how to structure an effective tourism organisation is a useful exercise in its own right.”
The meeting also heard that retiring South Burnett Mayor David Carter will continue to act as chair of the Transition Advisory Board after his departure from local government at the end of the month.
