Tourism Activation Plan + Strategic Mentoring
Bulloo, QLD
Bulloo in far south west Queensland is one of Queensland’s biggest Shires geographically but with a population of just 350. Tourism plays an important role in the region’s economy; around 35,000 travellers visit the Burke and Wills Dig Tree annually in this remote corner of the Outback.
Council’s tourism team has some recent big wins on the board, including decreasing the percentage of visitors to the visitor information centre who passed through without staying overnight from 60% to just 6% within two years. However, the majority of visitation to the Shire is concentrated between Easter and October.
Project Purpose
Council wanted to increase the economic benefits the Shire received from tourists to support local businesses and the local community.
“Linda and her team painstakingly poked, prodded, interviewed and researched every corner of our region, leaving no stone unturned. Their efforts were rewarded with the epiphany of the ‘Explorers’ brand for our shire. They stripped down all the information presented to them and recognised a common denominator between our visitors and the famous Burke and Wills story.
This brand then became the focal point behind an insightful, detailed and honest approach to a practical and achievable tourism activation plan.
The plan includes a fresh approach to the development and marketing of existing assets, plus based on research conducted by visitor information centre staff, new asset development.
Linda has managed to problem solve long standing issues in staff structure, workloads and has broken down barriers of perceived risk by submitting valued research and case studies to Council on new product development.
Tourism is now a priority for Council with strong administrative structure and financial support. The path to achieve our goals of an increase in economic benefits to the Shire, to support local businesses and the local community is laid out clearly in the tourism activation plan and each step can be measured for success.”
Project Overview
Tilma developed a tourism activation plan which identified critical projects to achieve the Shire’s tourism goals. This was supported by strategic mentoring and activation support for 12 months, to ensure that the Council team had the support and capability to see results and outcomes.
Tilma Group undertook desktop research and phone consultations to gain a comprehensive view of the current tourism situation in the Bulloo Shire. From this, a discussion paper was developed which outlined visitor types and opportunity markets, a summary of the existing product and experience offering, a review of the region’s brand and marketing with a focus on how visitors perceive Bulloo, an assessment, of its digital assets, tourism trends and opportunities suitable for Bulloo Shire, and discussion points for Council. The discussion paper provided insights and context to the current situation and the high level opportunities for further analysis and consideration by Council.
Tilma Group visited the region to facilitate a tourism workshop with the Councillors and tourism staff to discuss the gaps and opportunities in the paper. Additionally, site visits provided insight into the existing tourism offering.
From the feedback a Tourism Activation Plan was developed, which included
The destination’s story and unique selling points
Critical opportunities to develop
An activation roadmap to support implementation
Twelve months of mentoring is supporting the implementation of the activation plan.
To date, the mentoring has included assistance in restructuring Council’s tourism department to enhance efficiencies for better outcomes, and in setting the annual tourism budget. Tilma is working with industry on projects and sourcing funding for a revitalisation of the visitor information centre into an anchor tourism product that reflects the region’s DNA and brand identity.
Outcomes
This project has reinvigorated the Council, community and industry in realising their potential with tourism. Council immediately embarked on a restructure of the team, highlighting a strong commitment to growth and development. Funding applications are currently in for two major product development projects and funding has been secured to further develop their annual flagship festival. This is one small but powerful Council - watch this space!
Referee
Lew Rojahn
Chief Executive Officer, Bulloo Shire Council
PO Box 46
Thargomindah QLD 4492
07 4621 8000
lewR@bulloo.qld.gov.au
www.bulloo.qld.gov.au