Tourism strategy's five-year journey reaches its destination
Scenic Rim Regional Council's achievements in supporting the sustainable growth and long-term viability of the region's tourism sector as a key driver of the local economy were detailed in a report tabled during today's Ordinary Meeting.
The final report of the Scenic Rim Tourism Strategy 2017-2021, which was adopted in January 2017, outlined Council's progress in realising the five-year vision to double the value of the region's tourism industry from $150 million in 2016 to $300 million by 2021 and its effectiveness as a catalyst for growth within the sector.
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said that despite the impacts of bushfires, flooding and COVID-19, the strategy had achieved its objectives through the resilience of the region's tourism industry and Council's determination to forge ahead with some bold initiatives assisted by grant funding.
"Throughout its five-year lifespan, the strategy has provided the framework for the region's tourism development and destination management that have seen significant growth in visitor awareness of the Scenic Rim, enhanced synergies within the sector and an increase in both the capacity and capability of local tourism operators," he said.
"With a mission to develop vibrant and sustainable tourism through visitor experiences that celebrate the region’s unique and world-class natural assets and its rural and small town character and community values, the region was on track to meet its $300 million tourism target by 2021.
"Although visitor expenditure had reached $215 million by December 2019, travel restrictions and border closures imposed in Queensland and across Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the achievement of our ambitious target by 2021, the region nevertheless exceeded its expectations for spending by domestic day trippers and domestic overnight visitors."
While Queensland overall experienced a 48 per cent reduction in overnight visitor expenditure due to the pandemic, the Scenic Rim exceeded its forecasts.
Delivery of the strategy saw spending by domestic day trippers increased from $64 in 2016 to $79 by the end of 2021 while spending by domestic overnight visitors increased from $146 to $286, exceeding the forecast of $76 for domestic day trippers and $166 a night for overnight visitors to the region.
"Despite the external impacts, tourism industry recovery has been achieved by capitalising on funding programs and award-winning marketing campaigns that have placed our region on a growth trajectory," Mayor Christensen said.
"In the wake of the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020, Council advocated strongly to multiple government agencies for financial support for destination marketing and development that resulted in funding of more than $1.5 million under the Tourism Recovery Fund for Local Government to deliver nine projects with long-term benefits.
"This has resulted in tremendous gains for the tourism sector and the region."
A series of projects under the themes of destination development, destination marketing and destination management delivered through the strategy focused on:
· increasing funding for marketing through new funding options for tourism and events development
· maintaining and continuing to grow a Regional Events Grants Program to deliver events attracting at least 30 per cent of attendees from outside the Scenic Rim to help build the region’s brand
· increasing marketing, in partnership with Brisbane Marketing and Destination Gold Coast, targeting the 200km drive market and emerging fly-drive interstate markets from Sydney and Melbourne
· investing in ongoing research and partnering with Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology to collect and monitor primary visitor data, and
· aligning the efforts of the three local tourism organisations to create a seamless customer message.
One particularly outstanding outcome was the development of the award-winning destination marketing campaign - 'Welcome to the Scenic Rim, the Richest Place on Earth in Australia', which drove growth in visitation, 'off the charts' growth in awareness, the development of best-in-class creative assets, tremendous growth in leads to operators from campaign activity and a vastly improved online presence through Visit Scenic Rim website.
Council's adoption in March 2020 of the Scenic Rim Regional Prosperity Strategy 2020-2025 has provided a detailed growth plan for all business and industry sectors in the region, including tourism, which will continue to progress through the new Scenic Rim Agri-tourism and Agribusiness 10-Year Roadmap 2022-2032 and the proposed Scenic Rim Nature-based Tourism Strategy.
"The Scenic Rim Tourism Strategy 2021-2021 succeeded in achieving the vision of helping to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of this vital sector by significantly growing the value of tourism to the local economy, developing the capacity and capability of tourism operators and has more than served its purpose," Mayor Christensen said.