2021-11-09 Services & Organisation Committee Meeting Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                9 NOVEMBER 2021


once there is more certainty for both parties. This report outlines a range of issues that are currently
being worked through by both Council and Tourism Noosa.
1.    Background and history of Funding Agreements between Noosa Council and Tourism
      Noosa
Tourism Noosa and Noosa Council entered into their first funding agreement in 2000/01, shortly after
the establishment of Tourism Noosa. This organisation was established in 2000 jointly by the tourism
sector and Council to take the lead on marketing and promotion of the Noosa region and ongoing
development of the Noosa brand. Council assisted in the establishment of the Constitution for
Tourism Noosa which was based on a representation model.
During the 2000’s Council and Tourism Noosa had a series of funding agreements setting out how
the funds were to be used. Tourism Noosa acted as the Local Tourism Organisation (LTO) and has
become recognised as one of Australia’s premier LTO’s. (The Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO)
for the broader Sunshine Coast region is Visit Sunshine Coast which covers the Sunshine Coast
Council, Noosa Council and Gympie Council areas.)
During the amalgamation years, Tourism Noosa continued to operate under the Sunshine Coast
Regional Council with funding provided via a formal agreement.
At de-amalgamation in 2014, Noosa Council inherited a number of agreements from the Sunshine
Coast Regional Council (SCRC), namely:-
     A funding agreement between Council and Tourism Noosa for funding of $1,745,928 pa to
      undertake marketing and tourism promotion for the Noosa area;
     A funding agreement between Council and Sunshine Coast Destinations Limited (SCDL) (now
      called Visit Sunshine Coast) as the RTO for funding of $500,000 pa to support regional tourism
      marketing; and
     A funding agreement between Council and Ironman Australia for funding of $270,000 pa as
      sponsorship of the Noosa Triathlon.
The above agreements were entered into by SCRC prior to amalgamation and effectively transferred
to Noosa Council on de-amalgamation on 1 January 2014.
On 1 July 2015, Noosa Council terminated the RTO funding agreement with SCDL and at that time,
Council and Tourism Noosa entered into a new 2 year funding agreement that added an extra
$500,000 of funding to Tourism Noosa to their previous funding level. This agreement allowed
Tourism Noosa to determine the extent of funding they wished to allocate to regional tourism
opportunities and projects via the RTO.
Also, at the end of the 2015 calendar year, the sponsorship agreement with Ironman Australia
concluded and the $270,000 triathlon sponsorship funding was allocated to Tourism Noosa from
2016 for Tourism Noosa to liaise directly with Ironman Australia to determine sponsorship
arrangements for the Noosa Triathlon.
On 1 July 2017, Noosa Council entered into a further agreement with Tourism Noosa for funding.
This was a 3 year agreement with a two year option (which was subsequently exercised) and expires
on 30 June 2022. The key elements of this agreement were:-
     Total annual funding of $2.52M was provided and the term of the funding agreement was linked
      to the then Noosa Tourism Strategy 2017-22 (hence the total 5 year term).
     The funding agreement provided that the annual funding could not be reduced, thus providing
      certainty of funding for Tourism Noosa to allow for multi-year planning.
     The agreement required Tourism Noosa to maintain a marketing cash contingency of
      $350,000. Essentially, this was to ensure that Tourism Noosa maintained a cash reserve in its
      bank account that could be used in the case of an unforeseen event. Potential examples that
      were given at the time included a pilot strike, weed infestation on main beach, major weather
      events etc. As it turned out, a worldwide pandemic was the trigger for that contingency reserve

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