2019-12-10 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                               10 DECEMBER 2019


Tourism Noosa Funding Agreement Term
In 2017, Council entered into a Funding Agreement with Tourism Noosa. That agreement
commenced on 1 July 2017 for a 3 year term (expiring on 30 June 2020) with the agreement
containing a 2 year option (from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2022).
Clause 2 of the Funding Agreement provides as follows:
2.    TERM
(a)   The term of this Agreement is three years, from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2020 with one two year
      option for extension.
(b)   The Agreement will be reviewed by both parties regarding performance under this agreement (and
      in particular Clause 9) on or about 2 January 2020 with the intention of exercising the two year
      option from 1 July 2020, such determination to be made no later than 28 February 2020.
(c)   The extended Agreement will be reviewed by both parties regarding performance under this
      agreement (and in particular Clause 9) on or about 2 January 2022 with the intention of entering
      into a new Agreement from 1 July 2022 with the new agreement to generally align with the term of
      the new Tourism Strategy to be developed under clause 4 (c), such determination to be made no
      later than 28 February 2022.

Given that the Council is currently considering the annual report from Tourism Noosa which
includes details of their performance under the agreement (and in particular, their progress
towards achieving the goals in the Noosa Tourism Strategy) it would be appropriate to consider
the term extension at this point in time rather than in January/February 2020.
There are three options available to Council. They are:
1.    Not extending the term of the current agreement and negotiating a new agreement. This
      option is not being recommended.
2.    Extending the term of the agreement for a further 2 years pursuant to clause 2 (b). This
      option is being recommended.
3.    Varying the agreement to extend the term for one year instead of two years. This option
      would require the agreement of both parties and Tourism Noosa have indicated that they
      would not be supportive this option as the intent of the agreement was to ultimately match
      the Funding Agreement term to the term of the Noosa Tourism Strategy (being five years).
      As such, this option is not being recommended.
Tourism Noosa have continued to achieve the goals set out in the Noosa Tourism Strategy. That
strategy has a significant focus on “value over volume” and the statistics set out in the Tourism
Noosa annual report in the attachment evidence that focus. This has entailed a particular focus
on growing overseas and interstate tourism markets to capture the higher yield tourism segment.
Further, the Tourism Strategy identifies more emphasis on elevating sustainability and working
with the tourism sector to elevate the available product (with a particular emphasis on
renewing/refurbishing existing stock) and again, the annual report focuses on the actions taken
by Tourism Noosa to achieve those outcomes.

Previous Council Consideration
Ordinary Meeting, 20 December 2018, Item 20, Page 11
That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the Services & Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 11 December 2018 regarding Tourism Noosa’s Annual Report for the
2017/18 financial year (including the 2017/18 financial statements) as provided at Attachment 1
to the report.




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