Council drops the ball on regional tourism
Looking around the Southern Downs recently it is quite evident there is a lack of tourism and visitors to the region. Whilst many will formulate their own perceptions as to the lack of visitors, Southern Downs Regional Council has again dropped the ball failing at ‘regional promotion’.
Whilst it may be immeasurable to determine exactly how much local revenue is lost through Councils poor attempt at marketing and promotion of the Southern Downs, what is clearly evident is that visitors book their stay based on online information generally found on websites such as Tripadvisor. This translates to a loss of thousands of list views and/or potential visitors per month. Unfortunately, the lack of ‘things to do’ and ‘activities’ listed on such websites has been nonexistent – up until now.
Local residents have come together and taken it upon themselves to create listings across multiple websites that showcase our beautiful region and to promote activities such as; sunflower spotting, picturesque walks, jumpers & jazz in July, art, parks, scenic lookouts and activities that increases visitation to our region and in turn economic growth.
It falls upon Council to work alongside the community, promote the regions infrastructure, increase investment and tourism in line with its Economic Development Strategy 2022-2026.
Ryan James, Warwick
