2015-05-04 Attachment 1 to Item 1 General Committee Agenda - MCU14 0009 Referral Agency Response

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                       4 MAY 2015


Tourism Governance

Across Queensland, there are thirteen (13) Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) which have
a responsibility to promote tourism on a regional basis. These RTOs work with Tourism and
Events Queensland (TEQ) and receive some core base funding (approximately $300,000) but
are eligible to compete for other TEQ funding.

On the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast Destination Limited (SCDL) has been the RTO since
2009. Its area of responsibility covers the local government areas of Gympie, Noosa and the
Sunshine Coast. SCDL is a company established and owned by the Sunshine Coast Regional
Council (SCRC).

At a local level are local tourism organisations (LTOs). Tourism Noosa is the LTO for the Noosa
Shire area. Tourism Noosa is an industry based organisation that focuses on marketing of
tourism in Noosa. It administers a significant portion of the current tourism levy.

At Gympie, the LTO is Destination Gympie Region (DGR). Gympie does not have a tourism levy
and the LTO is funded directly by Council.

Within the Sunshine Coast area, SCDL effectively acts as the LTO for many areas including
operation of Visitor Information Centres but there are also a number of local tourism associations
that undertake marketing / promotion of local areas.

Tourism Noosa Relationship

Since our Council’s re-establishment, we have developed a very close working relationship with
Tourism Noosa. Cr Frank Wilkie is Council’s representative on the Tourism Noosa Board. The
Mayor and CEO have met regularly with the Tourism Noosa Chairperson (Steve McPharlin) and
CEO (Damien Massingham).

Our Council has worked co-operatively with Tourism Noosa on a number of issues including:
 Support for the Welcome to Noosa initiative with approximately 100 staff (so far) having
   undertaken the Welcome to Noosa training program developed by Tourism Noosa;
 Close liaison regarding relevant grant programs with Tourism Noosa funding a range of
   tourism / event type programs and Council funding a range of community based event
   programs. There is co-ordination between respective staff regarding applications and funding
   where there is a cross-over of applications/events; and
 Attendance at Tourism Noosa networking nights to discuss issues with members of the
   Noosa Tourism industry.

There is an excellent working relationship at an organisational and CEO level between Tourism
Noosa and Noosa Council. The two CEOs meet on a regular basis.

Tourism Noosa adopt a Sustainable Destination Action Plan (SDAP) on a 3 year rolling basis
which sets their strategic goals for marketing and promotion of Noosa as a tourism destination.
The current SDAP expires in 2016. Tourism Noosa also have an annual business plan which
sets more detailed actions to be undertaken in each year. To some extent, those documents
reflect the Corporate Plan / Operational Plan approach that local governments use.

The CEO has been working with Tourism Noosa to help define the right marketing strategy for
the future. The focus should be on low volume / high value markets that add additional economic
value to the Noosa economy. In practical terms, this means that the marketing focus for Tourism
Noosa should be on interstate and overseas markets. Ultimately, the value of the tourism
industry rests on its capacity to add to the GRP (gross regional product i.e. the total value of the
Noosa economy) rather than simply focussing on the number of visitors who come to Noosa.
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