Collaboration is key to collective success, say Goondiwindi region tourism operators
« BackMore than 60 local tourism operators have spent the past two days meeting with representatives from Southern Queensland Country Tourism (SQCT) to find out how they can support their tourism business or organisation during a series of free workshops held by Goondiwindi Regional Council.
Council hosted three networking and information workshops across Goondiwindi, Texas and Inglewood in partnership with SQCT, the Regional Tourism Organisation for the Goondiwindi region. During the sessions, local tourism operators and related businesses met with the CEO of SQCT, Peter Homan, and heard how they could make the most of SQCT’s new free membership model for all local tourism-related businesses in the Goondiwindi region.
The workshops also focused on how those businesses could benefit from SQCT’s recent investment in quality visitor data for the region, as well as upcoming opportunities in mentoring and training.
Jan Dowling, Co-ordinator of the Texas Rabbit Works, attended the workshop in Texas and said it was a great opportunity to collaborate on the direction of tourism in the region and to network with other local tourism operators.
“Getting together with similar businesses from town and the surrounds has been really valuable,” Ms Dowling said. “Ultimately, we all have the same ambition - which is getting more people to visit our region, getting them to stay longer and spend more. We all need to work together to promote each other and help share the message about how great the Goondiwindi region is.”
Mayor of the Goondiwindi region the Honourable Lawrence Springborg AM said Council had developed the workshops in response to calls for more networking opportunities among the region’s tourism operators.
“Council has recently invested in membership with SQCT, and the benefits of that membership extend to all tourism operators in the region,” Cr Springborg said. “Delivering these workshops in partnership with SQCT will help our operators to maximise the expertise and tools offered by the regional tourism experts, as well as learning how to get the most out of their membership.
“It’s extremely valuable to be able to work together during sessions like these, as I think it’s critical that we can offer our visitors a whole package of experiences when marketing the region. It’s about working together to attract visitors to the region, and giving them plenty of reasons to stay another night or visit another business once they’re here,” the Mayor said.
In January, Council adopted its new Visitor Strategy for the Goondiwindi region, setting the strategic direction for Council’s support of the region’s visitor economy. The workshops addressed several goals outlined as priority projects in the Strategy, such as improved tourism marketing for the region, improved collection and interpretation of data, and a new mentorship program with SQCT.
“Council is prioritising its investment into the region’s visitor economy - and we currently have an exciting opportunity in front of us in terms of domestic tourism, which is identified as one of our region’s growth markets,” the Mayor said.
“The Queensland Government’s tourism campaign [‘Queensland – You’re Good to Go!’] is expected to generate more than $1 billion in overnight visitor spending across the State in the next few months, and Council is capitalising on this opportunity with the release of a new campaign to encourage those tourists to #VisitGoondiwindiRegion and find out why we are known as Regional Australia at its best.”