Hero Off Peak Event Development
Destination Phillip Island
Phillip Island is the region in Victoria that is the most dependent on tourism, and the second most dependent in Australia. With just 10,000 residents, the island welcomes almost three million visitors each year, mainly in summer.
Project purpose
To smooth the intense seasonality of visitation to Phillip Island, Destination Phillip Island is seeking to support the growth of key off-peak events to attract overnight visitation during the winter months. This will support cash flow and staff retention for local tourism businesses.
The three homegrown events with the potential to grow are
This project built on previous work Tilma Group had done in the region:
The development of a Growing Off Peak Events Strategy for Bass Coast Shire Council
A 10-month event organiser capacity building program run by our rEVENTS Academy
Project overview
With funding to help the region recover from the impact of COVID on the local tourism industry, Destination Phillip Island hired Tilma Group to set these events up with everything they need to realise their potential:
A three-year strategic growth plan for each of three off peak events
Upskilling for the event organisers via rEVENTS Academy’s 7-week intensive event management training program
Complete operations manual development using rEVENTS Academy’s templates and resources
The process of development included desktop research, attending one of the festivals, extensive stakeholder consultation, and developing discussion papers and workshopping these with the committees.
Additionally, for each event, Embarketing marketing agency
provided a new or refreshed logo and brand story
updated all marketing assets, including the websites, social media profile graphics and tiles for stakeholders to use to help promote the events
undertook a review of all digital assets and provided a recommendations report
developed a marketing plan and content plan
Tilma Group also developed an event concept for a new off-peak wellness event aligned with the destination’s strengths and consumer trends. The concept was developed to pitch to a committee of local businesses to run as a collaborative commercial opportunity, or to pitch to an external event promotor.
An exciting addition to the project was a collaboration with University of Technology, Sydney’s Master of Event Management program where students undertook an assessment where they also developed a new off-peak event’s concept and plan for a new event.
Outcomes
All the work put into these events is already starting to pay off.
San Remo Fishing Festival was transformed into the destination event TIDAL Seafood Festival, San Remo with the support more volunteers who join the committee inspired by the event’s strong structure and direction (vision)
Island Whales’ next festival was the biggest and best ever, attracting almost 10,000 attendees, almost all of the activities were booked out, and new elements, including the Southern Ocean Environment VR Experience and plastics recycling workshop, were all full.
Phillip Island Festival of Stories will leverage the impressive new Cowes Cultural Centre to deliver their first event after the mentoring in 2024
We presented to Council on the opportunity of supporting these events and expected economic outcomes from them, and Council is considering our pitch for funding to hire an event organiser to support the implementation of the strategic plans.
The events all applied for grant funding, leveraging their strategic plans to secure significant support.
“We couldn’t have done it without all of your hard work! So another huge thank you!”
Referee
Kim Storey
General Manager
Destination Phillip Island
0409 250 895
dpi@visitphillipisland.com.au
www.destinationphillipisland.org.au
www.visitphillipisland.com.au
