{"id":293547,"date":"2021-01-29T19:20:29","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T09:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=293547"},"modified":"2021-01-29T19:52:24","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T09:52:24","slug":"meet-our-new-tourism-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/01\/29\/meet-our-new-tourism-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Our New Tourism Officer"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_293558\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-293558\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-293558\" src=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1.jpg 740w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1-269x167.jpg 269w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1-285x177.jpg 285w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1-340x211.jpg 340w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210128vsb1-263x163.jpg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-293558\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visit South Burnett president Jason Kinsella with new Tourism Officer Taylor Christies &#8230; Taylor was hired after a\u00a0 lengthy search by VSB to find the best applicant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>January 29, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The South Burnett&#8217;s new Tourism Officer is looking forward to the challenge of increasing the region&#8217;s visitor numbers over the next few years.<\/p>\n<p>Visit South Burnett (VSB) president Jason Kinsella began introducing Taylor Christies to VSB members and helping her settle into the role.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor, a former TV presenter with experience in marketing high-profile celebrities, returned to Australia in September after working in the United States.<\/p>\n<p><strong>She said she decided to apply for the position after visiting the South Burnett and realising how diverse its attractions were.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Taylor said between the two dams, the Bunya Mountains, the South Burnett Rail Trail and the region&#8217;s wineries, the South Burnett had plenty to offer city dwellers in search of something different.<\/p>\n<p>She is now settling into her new home near Wondai and setting up her office at the former Wondai Shire Council chambers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Taylor was hired by VSB after a multi-month search for a suitable person to fill the role, assisted by the Southern Queensland Country Regional Tourism Organisation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>She will be employed on an initial one-year contract, funded by the Council, but will be working under VSB&#8217;s direction.<\/p>\n<p>Jason said it was important Taylor work for VSB because if she were employed by Council they would be obliged to have her work office hours.<\/p>\n<p>While those hours suited ratepayers they did not suit someone filling a Tourism Officer role, which entails work at night and over weekends when most tourist-oriented events happened.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor said she plans to run social media workshops to help local operators learn how to raise their profile &#8211; and the region&#8217;s profile &#8211; by working collaboratively.<\/p>\n<p>She also plans to build a new tourism website for the region that reflects its current attractions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jason said he believed that with the threat of COVID-19 slowly receding, 2021 was the right time to prepare the region for bigger tourist numbers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many people were frustrated by the lockdowns and border closures &#8211; Brisbane was in lockdown again for a large part of January &#8211; and they want to get away to some place that&#8217;s not too far away, but different to what they see every day,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The South Burnett is just about two hours from anywhere, and we&#8217;re completely different to anything on the coast.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So we need to get out and raise awareness about what we have to offer, because people are eager for it right now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jason said there was already evidence tourist numbers were climbing again after a long period in the doldrums.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Both Yallakool and Lake Boondooma tourist parks have been recording significantly increased visitor numbers during the past few months, and other local accommodation operators have also enjoyed a rise in bookings.<\/p>\n<p>He said he had also been told visitor numbers on the South Burnett Rail Trail were continuing to rise, and grey nomad tourist numbers were up despite the long border closures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we&#8217;re in for a very positive future, and appointing Taylor is the next step in our plan,&#8221; Jason said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The South Burnett&#8217;s new Tourism Officer is looking forward to the challenge of increasing the region&#8217;s visitor numbers over the next few years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":293558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,3,10],"tags":[1130],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet Our New Tourism Officer - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The South Burnett&#039;s new Tourism Officer is looking forward to the challenge of increasing 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