April 3, 2013
The South Burnett Wine Industry Association has backed away from a proposal that it merge with the South Burnett Tourism Association to help keep the region’s tourism organisation alive.
SBWIA President Jason Kinsella suggested last month that the two associations look at temporarily merging after the Tourism Association was unable to muster enough members to form a quorum at its Annual General Meeting.
He said the SBWIA already had an executive in place who would be willing to help the Tourism Association maintain its incorporated status until the group was able to find its feet again.
However the SBWIA decided at its meeting last night to withdraw the offer.
Instead, it will allow the South Burnett Tourism Association to wind itself up, as outgoing SBTA president Cathy Davis has recommended.
This would leave the region’s tourism operators without any locally based industry organisation to represent their interests.
At the SBWIA meeting, held at the Tingoora Hotel, members heard the Tourism Association had been suffering declining attendances ever since it merged with the former Toowoomba Golden West Regional Tourism Organisation in 2011.
They heard that all the current South Burnett Tourism Association executive committee had recently resigned and no one had nominated for any of the organisation’s official positions.
Members also heard that an alternative proposal for the Tourism Association’s future, prepared by a local tourism operator, had been circulated recently to SBTA members but had drawn little response.
For these reasons, the SBWIA decided it would offer no objection to a proposal that the SBTA be wound up.
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