April 8, 2014
The South Burnett Tourism Association (SBTA) plans to launch a membership drive this year to double its numbers.
The SBTA held its Annual General Meeting at Taste South Burnett in Kingaroy tonight where it re-elected Bernie Cooper from Crane Wines as President; Michael Beohm from the Wondai Hotel as Vice-President; and Graham Archdall from the Burnett Business Centre as Treasurer.
The position of Secretary will be temporarily filled by Mr Cooper until a new Secretary can be found for the organisation.
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In his President’s Report, Mr Cooper said that since the SBTA was relaunched last year the group had made several measurable improvements to its operations.
It had increased member communications through regular bi-monthly meetings, quarterly newsletters, and the establishment of a Google hub to store documents and reports members could access at any time.
It had also conducted a business survey of members, the results of which were fed into a major regional tourism forum held at Kingaroy Town Hall in November last year which drew more than 100 attendees.
The group had successfully managed its first project – the pilot Tourism Ambassador Program run in Wondai in December last year – which they now hope to roll out in Nanango later this year, and possibly Kingaroy as well.
Mr Cooper said the SBTA has also forged good relationships with a number of other local organisations with similar aims, including the Nanango Tourism and Development Association, the South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show committee, South Burnett Directions and the South Burnett Regional Council.
Executive members were also invited to Toowoomba last June to meet with Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey to give their input into the Tourism 2020 Plan for Southern Queensland Country, and the SBTA is looking forward to continuing to improve its relationship with the Regional Tourism Board in the year ahead.
Projects the group would like to progress over the coming year include:
- Initiating better customer service training for small businesses through the Tourism Ambassador program
- Developing good quality, uniform regional signage
- Developing uniform regional branding
- Seeking funds to expand the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail’s facilities
- Working to develop an event management system that could assist local major event operators
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Mr Cooper said the group’s main problem was that membership numbers were still only at half the level needed to make the Tourism Association self-sustaining.
He said the SBTA has 25 financial members but needs 50 – at $50 per annum – to meet its running costs.
The group will now focus on contacting former SBTA members to find out how it can better meet their needs, and encourage potential new members to come along to meetings to see how the organisation now works.
The SBTA will also examine the option of holding purely social meetings on alternate months to regular meetings.
The first of these will be held at Nanango’s Commercial Hotel in May on a date to be fixed.
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