Visitor Servicing Review
Rockingham, WA
With 37km of spectacular coastline, Rockingham is a popular holiday destination 45 minutes south of Perth.
Rockingham’s visitor information centre (VIC) is Level One accredited, operating one block from the beach close to visitor parking. The VIC is managed by Tourism Rockingham, the local tourism association, contracted by the City of Rockingham to deliver visitor servicing.
Project purpose
Tilma Group reviewed Rockingham’s visitor servicing and provided a recommendation on a best practice model for servicing visitors into the future.
The model seeks to deliver the following outcomes:
Visitors receive accurate, quality, timely information at every stage of the visitor journey
Visitors feel welcome
Visitation to Rockingham increases by 10% by 2025, and yield from visitors increases through growth in spend and/or length of stay.
The outcomes will improve the City’s return on investment into visitor servicing and provide direct benefits to local businesses.
Project overview
This project was undertaken in collaboration with JJ Strategic Consulting, who produced A National Perspective on Visitor Information Servicing for the national accredited Visitor Information Centre group. The paper’s findings provide a national perspective on priorities for VICs to remain competitive and relevant.
The Rockingham visitor servicing review included
Current and future visitors and their servicing needs and preferences
Visitor touchpoints
Services provided at the VIC and the current operation’s efficiency and effectiveness
The VIC’s location and other potential locations including co-location sites (e.g. co-location with an attraction)
Costs and benefits of the City delivering visitor information services
Views of industry stakeholders on their needs and wants from visitor servicing
Issues and opportunities with the current visitor information services
Best practice visitor information servicing models and the elements critical to contemporary visitor servicing
Gaps, deficiencies and opportunities for enhancement of visitor servicing in the City
Critical success factors for best practice visitor servicing
Practical recommendations to inform decision-making on the future of visitor servicing
A visitor-centric approach focused on ensuring visitors receive the information they seek when and where they need it across their travel journey - visitors are looking for curated information, customised to their needs.
Project outcomes
The project’s outcomes were maximised by
challenging assumptions when reviewing visitor servicing touchpoints
giving voice to the locals, engaging industry stakeholders in defining priorities
aligning with the direction set by the region’s Tourism Development Strategy, and other investment commitments and priorities, strategic planning initiatives, and government policies.
The recommended model was a mobile service which would operate seasonally at highly visited locations and events in and around the region, and intrastate as required to build awareness.
This model provides a flexible approach to delivering information where visitors are, and no set requirements regarding opening hours means that the VIC could operate based on seasonal demand.
The mobile VIC would be supported by other visitor servicing to maximise engagement with visitors, including
Inspiring web content, a personalised itinerary builder, and online chat system
Visitor information kiosks run by local operators
Email and phone services
Signage and wayfinding at visitor touchpoints
Although a mobile service without a bricks and mortar VIC precludes national VIC accreditation, the recommended model reflects the critical success factors for contemporary visitor servicing.
The recommendation includes a management model where all tourism development functions are consolidated within the City of Rockingham, enabling the City to have oversight of visitor servicing across the entire visitor journey to provide consistency in messaging and a streamlined experience for visitors, and maximising the impact of destination marketing.
Referee
Scott Jarvis
Manager Economic Development and Tourism
City of Rockingham
0417 088 492
scott.jarvis@rockingham.wa.gov.au
www.rockingham.wa.gov.au
www.visitrockingham.com.au
