TOURISM Mount Gambier chair Kent Comley has revealed the tourism industry body will soon unveil a dynamic website to drive the city’s visitor economy.
The “complete resource” was among a number of rapidly evolving projects highlighted at the Talking Tourism event.
Mr Comley spoke to The Border Watch ahead of the event, where TMG board members and stakeholders updated members on the revised industry plan and presented key findings from visitor data collected early this year.
“We are about to launch a new website which will be sensational and a complete resource for visitors,” Mr Comley said.
“The website features magnificent photographs captured by Ockert Le Roux – it will be visually stunning and dynamic.
“Stage two of the website will introduce an online itinerary planner and we are working on the back end of that now.”
He said the introduction of walking tours across the city was also gaining pace.
“We are exploring the concept of ‘Mount Gambier Guides’ – we will look at training and introducing guides to take visitors on walking tours,” Mr Comley said.
“There is certainly a market for that type of tour – we could offer informative historic walks or crater lakes walks.”
Mr Comley said the group’s strategic plan, the primary reference document for the industry, had been revised and updated.
“The industry plan was devised three years ago and since then things have been moving fast,” he said.
“Collaboration with stakeholders, industry peers and local and state government has helped us refine the plan.
“The key findings from the visitor data we collected at the start of the year confirmed we are on the right track in terms of opportunities we have already identified.”
He said the visitor surveys, collected in March and April, returned mostly predicted results.
“There was a high proportion of international and interstate visitors and we anticipated that,” Mr Comley said.
“What did surprise us was that visitors stayed an average of four days – that was above what we expected.
“The data highlighted the need for increased air access, better information sources and more tours and packages and we have addressed each of these areas in our strategic plan.”
Mr Comley said the dinner was an opportunity to introduce Mount Gambier City Council tourism and economic development manager Donna Foster.
“TMG, City Council and Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce will continue to collaborate to make the Blue Lake city a ‘destination city,'” he said.
“Donna started in her role with City Council recently and she will be a key player – Talking Tourism will be her formal introduction to industry stakeholders.”
“She understands the value of tourism, is passionate about the region and she is already building relationships – she has hit the ground running.”
