Not The Time To Throw In The Towel

July 2, 2015

by Dafyd Martindale

It’s deeply ironic – and slightly tragic – the South Burnett Tourism Association will be voting on whether or not to dissolve itself in the middle of this month.

The move to wind up this venerable organisation comes at a time when our region seems poised for a long-awaited resurgence in local tourism.

In fact, our Regional Council has been anticipating and actively preparing for this resurgence since 2012.

Within the next year the new Kingaroy-Kilkivan Rail Trail will be built through the heart of three of our region’s major towns and three of its villages.

Stage 1 of Wondai’s Village Green will finally be finished; Nanango’s CBD upgrade will be complete; and small but lucrative expansions to the popular Yallakool and Lake Boondooma Tourist Parks will also be firmly bedded down.

The South Burnett Regional Council has just appointed a new full-time tourism officer to network with operators and arrange for our region to be promoted at major festivals and sporting events where the South Burnett has never had a presence before.

And the Council will be working over the next few years to transform our region’s Visitor Information Centres into self-sustaining booking services in order to better cater for the needs of tourists in the Smartphone and iPad age.

The regional economic slump caused by the 2011 floods, 2012 drought and 2013 floods finally seems to be lifting as well – at least, to judge by the boom in agricultural equipment sales going on lately.

So providing our farmers have another few good seasons to wind back the overdraft – something that can never be guaranteed, but fingers crossed – things could also start to normalise in the general community, which will have positive flow-ons to many local tourism-related businesses as well.

Finally, the high Australian dollar which made overseas travel so much more attractive to Aussies than a holiday in their own back yard seems to be returning to its normal level, too.

This decline in the dollar should see a big upsurge in domestic tourism in the years ahead, along with an influx of foreigners.

But unless local tourism operators vote otherwise, they will be left without an effective voice in any of this after mid-July.

And that could wind up hurting more than just them.

Here’s why:

• In essence, any Tourism Association is an industry group whose bottom line is to put more money into the pockets of its members. It is not a selfless community service organisation like Rotary or Lions. It is naked self-interest, writ large.

• We already have a number of these in the South Burnett, ranging from town Chambers of Commerce through to the South Burnett Wine Industry Association.

• However there is nothing wrong with self-interest, and quite a lot to commend it, if it leads to economic growth for our region and all the good things that flow from that.

• Industry groups tackle problems that are too big for individuals to tackle; they tend to be more effective than government at spotting local bottlenecks and coming up with effective solutions for them; and they are very good reference points when any level of government wants to consult on industry-related issues.

• Industry groups also tend to squeeze more dollars of profit out of their industries – or for their towns – than those which don’t have them.

Now realistically, tourism in the South Burnett will continue whether we have an SBTA or not.

But the core question operators need to ask themselves is this: Will it continue effectively?

Will our region – and their own individual tourism businesses – maximise the gains they can make through the growth of tourism over the years ahead? Or will we do a half-hearted job of it and leave a lot of money lying on the table because we no longer have a local industry group overseeing this area?

It’s an important question, we think.

And one that should be of interest to many of us, given the way tourism dollars flow through our local economy to prop up a lot of non-tourist related businesses.

Tourism may not be the biggest industry in our region – agriculture will wear that crown for many decades to come, perhaps forever – but it is now certainly big enough to make a difference.

Tourism is also a great job generator because it’s a service industry that needs people to make beds, cook meals, wash dishes, serve drinks and do the myriad other tasks we’re unlikely to be able to automate out of existence in the next few decades.

This means that maximising the benefits from an upswing in tourism also maximises the good that can flow to to all sectors of our local economy, just as much as failing to do so inhibits our capacity to grow at full steam.

So if there was ever a time to throw in the towel, we don’t think this is it.

But it’s up to local operators – not us – to make that decision.

All we can hope is that they choose wisely and well. For themselves and all the rest of us.

• Related article: Tourism Association May Wind Up Soon

• Read more Editorial columns

  Tourism