December 11, 2018
The South Burnett Regional Council may call in a consultant to examine its tourism marketing activities.
On Tuesday, Mayor Keith Campbell said he expected councillors would discuss the topic in the New Year.
If they agreed, a consultant would likely be engaged in the first quarter of 2019.
The move follows a meeting of tourism operators held at Wooroolin Hall last Thursday, called after some operators said they had just experienced their worst year in business.
The operators complained that promotions being planned by Discover South Burnett (Council’s tourism promotion arm) were being drawn up with little industry input, targeting the wrong markets and wasting ratepayers’ money.
They said this could be avoided if Discover South Burnett took advice from local operators, and voted that Council should consult more with them.
Mayor Campbell said given industry concerns, an examination of Discover South Burnett’s activities was probably warranted.
He expected any examination would take into account changing trends in tourism which have occurred over the past decade.
However, because of the highly charged nature of the situation, he thought it was important this be done impartially by someone with appropriate expertise who was at arm’s length from all parties.
The Mayor said Council had previously offered to form a tourism reference group composed of equal numbers of industry representatives and Council staff.
However, he said this offer had been rejected by the Visit South Burnett local tourism organisation during discussions a year ago.
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- Crisis Meeting For Tourism Operators
- Tourism Review On Thursday
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- Council Reviews Role Of VICs
- Pumpkin Festival Query Sparks Anger
- Council To Consult On Tourist Guide
- Council Subsidises Pumpkin Festival
- Local Tourism Marketing Falls Flat
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- Forum Cooks Up Tourism Ideas
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- Council Pulls Plug On Tourism Board
Yep, let’s spend ratepayers’ money on another expert. When will this council start making some decisions without calling in an out-of-town consulting firm? When councillors stand for election they all profess to be experts at everything, once elected they spend thousands and thousands of ratepayers’ money on getting in out-of-town consultants to draw plans for things to tell local residents what is best for them. It appears they are unhappy with the negotiations with the local tourism group. Well, maybe that group should be opening memberships then have an election of office bearers and see who the industry have confidence in and both council and industry work together for the good of us all.
No need for a consultant. Just provide tourists with factual information and they will come. People must be sick of errors in brochures and signage.
They don’t need a consultant from outside the region. There is quite capable people WITHIN the region with these skills. Last time they did that the consultancy firm left BLACKBUTT off the region’s map.. for a cost of $40K (allegedly).
I cannot believe I am reading this…. we have done a full circle. Council hired Linda Tillman over 12 months ago to facilitate a meeting with tourism operators and SBRC.
The report from that meeting indicated industry needed the direction of an LTO.
Are you going to spend more ratepayers’ money to hire another consultant to tell you what industry wants AGAIN???? A show of hands at the Wooroolin meeting indicated that the majority of tourism operators want Council to work with an LTO.
I don’t understand the resistance from the mayor to follow industry expectations.