Tourism Noosa’s membership and stakeholder consultation process, which is expected to be completed this week, is likely to provide one of the foundations of the broadest review of the tourism body’s operations since it began 20 years ago.
Another foundation, of course, will be the challenging new world of tourism emerging post-Covid-19.
But Tourism Noosa chair Drew Pearson insists that while the focus will be on marketing efforts to revitalize visitor numbers safely as the pandemic recedes, the group ethos will remain “value over volume”.
And contrary to rumours circulating about Tourism Noosa abandoning its involvement in sustainable tourism practices to enable it to focus on putting bums in beds, Mr Pearson says that the board, CEO Melanie Anderson and her management’s commitment to sustainability remains strong.
“Of course, the times dictate the strategy,” he told NT, “but that has always been the case, and in fact, we were planning to bring a review forward before Covid-19 became a factor.
However, there is no doubt the pandemic has given it a sharper focus, and why we’ve sought views across the tourism industry and the broader community as to what we should be doing during the period of recovery and into the future.”
Tourism Noosa’s current strategic plan was released in 2017 as a five-year plan to 2022, but the “Noosa is full” media hype exactly a year ago, surrounding then-mayor Tony Wellington’s concern that Noosa was in danger of being loved to death, prompted closer examination of the impact tourism was having not only on the community but on the future of the industry.
These concerns are not Noosa’s alone, of course – Tourism Noosa is at pains to point out that if tourism has a critical mass here it is a long way into the future – and the global issues have been highlighted effectively by tourism analysts like Doug Lansky with his Destination X Youtube videos. But there is no doubt that Noosa has to be proactive, and Tourism Noosa’s push into sustainability has been part of that realization.
On the other hand, Mr Pearson told Noosa Today that while destination marketing is the core activity of the organization, “the fundamental functions of destination management are, and should remain, the responsibility of Noosa Council. We need to ensure that those borders don’t get blurred.”
The story of tourism marketing in Noosa has been one of the lines getting blurred ever since it began in 1964, when the Noosa Tourist Association was formed to take over the publication and distribution of tourist brochures from the Tewantin-Noosa Chamber of Commerce.
With former Shire chairman ST Adams as president, the body went from strength to strength, hosting Noosa’s first ever tourism industry seminar in 1969. But in 1972 it fell apart over a dispute about who should be responsible for running events.
The association disbanded, handing the running of the annual Festival of the Waters – Noosa’s only event – back to the Chamber of Commerce.
In the decades to follow, Noosa’s tourism body would return, morphing from Noosa District Tourism Association to a wing of the Noosa Enterprise Group to Destination Noosa and finally, 20 years ago, to the current Tourism Noosa. And, while embracing representation and ideas from other community forums, TN has grown into a formidable an independent bridge between industry and community.
Says Drew Pearson: “A great positive in Noosa is that we have a number of very active community associations that care deeply about their members’ and residents’ interests and want to contribute to the discussion and ultimately the policies adopted in the management of Noosa. This community participation can only lead to more informed decisions by our leaders and better outcomes for Noosa.”
Tourism Noosa’s strategy assessment will take place next month with an independent expert facilitator taking charge of the process. A report on the strategic outcomes is expected to be presented to the membership and stakeholders later in the year.
