THE Narooma Chamber of Commerce is calling on all concerned members of the community to attend its next meeting to discuss Eurobodalla Shire Council’s plans for the visitor information centre.
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The chamber meeting is on Tuesday, April 7 at 7pm at Club Narooma and topics of discussion include the benefits of having a real council-employed person for tourists to deal with in town rather than a call centre.
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Council has initiated a debate about the future of the shire's tourism model, its visitor centres and the future of methods of engaging with visitors both before and after they arrive here.
Independent councillors Peter Schwarz and Neil Burnside say they have been engaged in the discussion since being elected and before.
"As the president of the Narooma chamber 20 years ago, the discussion of where the limited ‘tourism dollar’ should be spent was always a topic,” Clr Burnside said.
“And there were always two sides to the discussion -- those wanting more spent attracting people to our shire and those who favoured a major presence once the tourist arrived here.”
Clr Peter Schwarz said it became more urgent in recent years with the digital age and major changes to the way people arrange their holidays.
“In the last four years, visitor information centre 'traffic through the door' has decreased by 30 per cent, as has revenue, but costs have changed only slightly and Narooma's centre has seen an increase in expenditure,” he said.
“Employee costs now represent 63 per cent of the centres' budgets and it's difficult to find anywhere, in regional councils around Australia, where a model of staffing costs being fully funded by council exists.”
Clr Burnside said the use of our website, phone enquiries and emails had all increased dramatically.
“Conversely, only 5 per cent of visitors actually use our centres so it's vital that we address the problem now,” he said.
“None of this is surprising, as our enquiries reveal these changes are being experienced by tourism bodies everywhere.
“We can't continue seeing revenue sliding, costs going up and valuable dollars taken away from the most important role the council has in tourism - getting people to come and visit our beautiful shire.
“Anyone taking an objective look at these numbers should be as concerned as we are and become part of the discussion about more efficient and productive ways of promoting our area
“We want better bang for our buck and a different model is what's needed. Please consider all this and let us have your views.”
Mayor's say… The tourism conversation we need to have
(The following is mayor Lindsay Brown's weekly column)
This week I write about the visitor services proposal we are asking for feedback on and I thank those of you who have called either myself or the dedicated hot line to seek out the facts.
We are not proposing closing the visitor centres and I assure you that we understand and value and the importance of providing quality local information to our visitors.
What we have done is undertake a review of the way we provide and fund visitor services with the aim of making sure we manage the $1.2m tourism budget in the most effective way we can, and that we are getting the best bang for our collective buck!
What the review has shown is this. The costs of operating the accredited centres such as wages and penalty rates, maintenance, electricity etc. have increased over time; the number of people using the centres has decreased as more and more people search for information online; and booking revenue has decreased as the bigger players such as Wotif, booking.com have and others have taken over the market.
Through this, the total tourism budget has remained fairly static and these increased costs and declining revenue have come as a hit to the marketing budget that we use to get people here in the first place.
As anyone running a business knows, with facts like these staring us in the face we have to look at options.
So, is there a more efficient way to provide visitor services?
Would a not for profit or commercial organisation do a better job of running the centres? Do we offer the same quality of service delivery as other councils?
Do we spend more attracting people here? What is the bigger priority for council - getting people here in the first place or providing information at two visitor centres once they’re here?
I hope you did not vote us in to stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic reality and opportunities to support our tourism industry.
Many ratepayers made it loud and clear through the special rate variation process that you want council to be more efficient, to come up with new ideas, to move with the times, to rigorously review how we operate and deliver services, to think about what our core business is.
Well, this is what we’re looking at. This is the proposal before you and there has been no ‘lack of consultation’ as we are consulting right now with a model that can amended, modified, expanded or changed.
I voted to extend the submission period by 50 per cent and you now have at least 40 two days until May 6. Experience tells me that most submissions arrive in the first two or three weeks, however I can extend the time if necessary.
Please make your view informed by facts, not what you hear from chat or rumours in the street.
Ponder the questions above, think the issues through. If after considering the proposal your view is that there should be no change, or you come up with a better idea, or you support some of the proposed changes, then let us know.
This is the reason we have put this proposal out there, to hear your view. I just ask that at the very least, you make your view an informed one as councillors have to.
Please let me know if there are any issues that council can assist with. You can contact me at mayor@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au or phone 0418 279 215.
- Lindsay Brown, Mayor of Eurobodalla Shire