Our key takeouts from the 2020 Australian Regional Tourism Convention

Nov 2

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As we see a flurry of domestic travellers heading into regional destinations it is critical that operators have the skills and the tourism products and experiences to satisfy their needs. Many visitors are replacing their overseas holiday with a domestic holiday, and their expectations may not be what regional destinations are used to…

Road trips! This is where smaller communities can benefit. Think about road trippers and how you can support their needs and aspirations…itineraries, drive routes, etc

Don’t think short term - while some regions are experiencing record visitation, it is critical for regional destinations to take a long-term view and set themselves up for a sustainable and long future in domestic tourism…

How do we make it easier for people to spend money before they even leave home? Good websites, bookable product, packaging, etc… if your region is not busy yet, get these in order so you are ready to leverage the opportunity

There are loads of grant opportunities for regional tourism and more will come online soon… Are you ready to grab these opportunities for your projects and infrastructure development?

how to develop a business case to support grant applications

Check out the Tourism Lexicon - the words most commonly used by politicians to talk about tourism (perfect for slipping into grant applications…). Our industry should use a particular vocabulary to connect with tourism stakeholders and better illustrate the value of destination organisations.

Credit: Destinations International Foundation

Thought provoker from Andreas Weissenborn at Destinations International Foundation (USA):
Who are the customers of destinations and tourism organisations?
It is not visitors, suppliers, or stakeholders but the residents of the community
Our customers are local families, our friends and neighbours - our community

Developing opportunities and building quality of life to benefit all residents of a community is an essential investment

‘Common good for the greater good’

We need to be flexible, dynamic and nimble

Everyone is looking for certainty and clarity

Be as visual and transparent as possible with crisis communications (internal and external comms) - facts only!

Focus on the things you can control

Over to you

What were your key takeouts? Be sure to comment (with #ARTC20)

Cristy Houghton

Cristy's unique career has taken her from country NSW to the city lights of Clarendon Street South Melbourne and back again. With an early career in radio as a copywriter and creative strategist, she is now a Jill of all trades as a graphic designer, website builder, blog writer, video editor, social media manager, marketing strategist and more.

In fact, give her any task and this chick will figure out how to do it! Go on, we dare you!

No, really, we DARE you!!

Cristy has won two Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs) for Best Ad and Best Sales Promotion, and even has an 'Employee of the Year' certificate with her name on it.

Cristy and her husband James have traveled extensively through Russia, China and South East Asia, and have two fur-babies, Sooty (cat) and Panda (puppy). Cristy loves drinking coffee, meeting people to drink coffee, coffee tasting and coffee flavoured cocktails. She also enjoys road trips, TED Talks and watching cat videos on youtube.

http://www.embarketing.com.au