Tourism Activation Plan
Clifton, QLD
Clifton is a rural village in the broad-acre cropping lands between two regional centres an hour apart in south east Queensland: Toowoomba (population 105,000) and Warwick (12,000) which are
Clifton’s attractions include a new museum, regular steam train visits, and an Irish pub that holds quirky events. In summer, sunflowers attract vast numbers of visitors. Nearby to Clifton are Darling Downs Zoo, two National Parks, and the highly-attended Leyburn Sprints car race, as well as other villages with interesting connections such as to Steele Rudd of Dad and Dave fame, and the author of Mary Poppins.
Project purpose
On behalf of Clifton and District Chamber of Commerce, Tilma Group and Toowoomba Regional Council collaborated to secure $20,000 from a federal grant to develop a tourism development plan, a marketing plan and a development plan for a new event.
Their purpose was to increase benefits received from visitors. The plans identified priority activities to undertake to increase Clifton’s vibrancy through increased visitation, and to increase economic benefits for businesses.
The objective of the project was to excite the community to work on a shared vision and build vibrancy by leveraging and activating existing assets and developing new opportunities.
Project overview
Review and consultation
The tourism development plan built on other work undertaken by Tilma Group for the Chamber, including the development of a tourism audit, a community consultation workshop, and mentoring three community groups to further their projects.
Consultation consisted of face to face and phone meetings with a broad variety of stakeholders to discuss challenges and opportunities, including Clifton’s community groups, business owners and tourism operators, a pop-up consultation day at the local café, and meetings with tourism staff of two Councils, the regional and state tourism organisations, and Queensland Museums.
Tilma Group distilled the findings to develop an easily implementable plan which identified three priority projects to realise over three years:
Build the capacity of businesses and community groups to offer a quality experience to visitors.
Activate existing assets and develop new tourism experiences.
Increase awareness of the region through marketing.
A new collaborative tourism collective was recommended to drive the plan’s activation, and improve efficiencies amongst the community’s already-active community groups.
The tourism development plan also looked beyond Clifton to recommend a new destination brand for the rural region between Toowoomba and Warwick, to position it as a sunflower destination for year-round visitation and to activate this positioning with a region-wide summer sunflower festival. Sunflowers are by far the most popular request at Toowoomba and Warwick’s visitor information centres – a hook that draws people to the region from across south east Queensland.
New event
Based on an assessment of the kinds of events that the Clifton community already do well, Tilma Group developed a comprehensive plan for a new ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’-themed event.
Marketing plan
The content-focused marketing plan identified multiple tactics that can be implemented with little to no budget such as
Ensuring all of Clifton’s attractions and events are listed on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse and TripAdvisor.
Quarterly seasonal newsletters promoting events and things to do appropriate to the season.
Activating Clifton’s public toilets with destination information on the backs of toilet doors such as pub menus and upcoming events (to leverage tea and wee stops and playground stops).
Direct marketing to car and motorbike clubs.
Tactics to leverage events.
Outcomes
The plans were used to
Secure another $20,000 federal grant to enable Clifton to realise their new event by hiring an event organiser/marketer. The event organiser’s role was to coordinate the community groups and businesses who will each run parts of the event.
Secure funding from Council for three projects: a three-month destination marketing campaign, a business development program to teach business owners how to improve their visitor experience, and a placemaking project to beautify the Main Street to encourage visitors to stop. Consultants were hired to implement these projects.
Secure funding by a community group for a mural about the region's mega fauna fossils to add vibrancy to the main street.
Referee
Amanda Beatson
President
Clifton and District Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 44
Clifton QLD 4361
0437 641 277
info@cliftonchamber.org.au
www.cliftonchamber.org.au