{"id":257495,"date":"2020-04-30T18:15:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T08:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=257495"},"modified":"2020-07-11T10:25:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T00:25:50","slug":"council-shelves-tourism-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2020\/04\/30\/council-shelves-tourism-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Shelves Tourism Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A plan which aimed to grow tourism by capitalising on regional events has been shelved after most events scheduled for March to August were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Economic Development portfolio chair Cr Kirstie Schumacher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 30, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

A proposed marketing plan to encourage more tourists to visit the South Burnett has been shelved due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The 2020 Marketing Plan was developed by the Council’s Economic Development department, the South Burnett Tourism Advisory Committee and Councillors late last year.<\/p>\n

A draft copy was presented to tourist operators at a Regional Tourism Information night held at Wooroolin Hall in December, before being circulated to industry operators for comment.<\/p>\n

The plan aimed to achieve a 3 per cent lift in annual tourism expenditure by exhibiting at four Queensland caravanning and camping expos, hosting a “famil” for journalists to generate news coverage about the region, and running some seasonal marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

Importantly, a large part of the plan aimed to capitalise on regional events.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, nearly all of these have now been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Cr Kirstie Schumacher said she had been having discussions with the Tourism Advisory Committee this week about the impact COVID-19 restrictions were having on the region’s tourism operators.<\/p>\n

There had also been talk about the opportunities that might arise once social distancing guidelines were relaxed.<\/p>\n

In light of these recent developments, she recommended the report be received by council, but set aside for future review.<\/p>\n

Councillors agreed.<\/p>\n