{"id":225231,"date":"2018-12-11T21:10:51","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T11:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=225231"},"modified":"2020-07-25T13:03:44","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T03:03:44","slug":"council-to-discuss-tourism-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/12\/11\/council-to-discuss-tourism-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Council To Discuss Tourism Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Questions about the effectiveness of Council’s tourism promotion efforts and calls by local operators for more industry consultation are expected to be discussed by councillors early next year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell (Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 11, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett Regional Council may call in a consultant to examine its tourism marketing activities.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Mayor Keith Campbell said he expected councillors would discuss the topic in the New Year.<\/p>\n

If they agreed, a consultant would likely be engaged in the first quarter of 2019.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0the wrong markets and wasting ratepayers’ money.<\/p>\n

They said this could be avoided if Discover South Burnett took advice from local operators, and voted that Council should consult more with them.<\/p>\n

Mayor Campbell said given industry concerns, an examination of Discover South Burnett’s activities was probably warranted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He expected any examination would take into account changing trends in tourism which have occurred over the past decade.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Mayor said Council had previously offered to form a tourism reference group composed of equal numbers of industry representatives and Council staff.<\/p>\n

However, he said this offer had been rejected by the Visit South Burnett local tourism organisation during discussions a year ago.<\/p>\n

Related articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n