May 30, 2017
Monday’s announcement that a new breakaway tourism association has been formed by Toowoomba businessman John Wagner to promote the Darling Downs as a tourist destination may not be the last.
Western Downs Regional Council, which unveiled its “first ever” five year tourism strategy in April, is now also tipped to take tourism promotion into its own hands.
And the South Burnett could follow, with Mayor Keith Campbell saying on Tuesday he wanted the Council to develop a new South Burnett tourism strategy.
At present the Council spends about $500,000 a year on tourism promotion, the Mayor said.
The money is spent on maintaining and operating five visitor information centres; employing a full-time tourism officer and a supervisor to manage visitor information centre volunteers; attending tourism promotion events such as Regional Flavours at South Bank; and general advertising in tourist-related publications and on billboards.
The Council also contributes an annual five-figure sum to the Southern Queensland Country Tourism (SQCT) regional tourism organisation, along with Toowoomba, Southern Downs, Western Downs and Goondiwindi Regional Councils and Balonne Shire Council.
The money the six councils give to SQCT is meant to be applied to the overall marketing of the mega-region, which extends across an area slightly bigger than Tasmania.
At its February 3 meeting last year, the outgoing South Burnett Regional Council adopted a three year tourism strategy developed by South Burnett Directions which called on the region to “maximise its partnership” with SQCT and Tourism and Events Queensland.
However, Mr Wagner’s stinging criticism of SQCT in January, which he described in the media as an “absolute joke” and a “disgrace” because it had achieved three per growth at a time when most other RTOs reported “double digit” growth in visitor numbers, appears to have led to a change in attitude amongst some SQCT members.
Mr Wagner said he believed the region’s tourism industry was stagnating and this was leading to lost opportunities for job creation and growth.
This situation could only be reversed if people with a “passion” for tourism promotion took over the reins, Mr Wagner said.
Mr Wagner’s comments prompted Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio to suggest his own council was willing to explore alternative ways to promote tourism, too.
Mayor Campbell said he was not foreshadowing any withdrawal from SQCT, but was willing to consider making the Council’s annual contribution to the RTO “contestable”.
Under this arrangement, SQCT or any other tourism group which sought funding from the Council would need to show what direct value the South Burnett would get from any particular project.
Toowoomba Regional Council, which is the largest single contributor to SQCT, is expected to announce what its own approach to tourism funding will be when it hands down its budget next month.
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