Noosa councillor Amelia Lorentson
Noosa is well known as being a great place to live and visit. The process of developing a Destination Management Plan (DMP) is to ensure that Noosa continues to be a great place for our residents and visitors.
Council has committed to undertake a Destination Management Plan (DMP), an ambitious project that will bring together our tourism industry, our community and Council with the aim of creating a strategic vision and joint plan that will support a well-managed and sustainable destination.
We cannot stop people visiting Noosa, and we do not want to. Capping or limiting the number of visitors, is also not the answer (imo).
We simply need to better manage the way we do business that does not impact on our lifestyle.
The best managed destinations are good for the community. And the best managed destinations are good for business.
And that is our challenge. And our job.
We need to work out how we can achieve both resident aspirations to maintain residential amenity and lifestyle, and visitor desires for a unique Noosa experience.
Tourism that delivers social, cultural, and environmental benefits to the community as well as economic benefits.
Tourism that is inclusive and that protects the Noosa Brand.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel; we just need to have to look at other places to see how they are responding to the same challenges.
And we need to align our targets and goals with our own strategies: our Local Economic Plan, Social Strategy, Transport Strategy, Environment Strategy, and the Noosa Planning Scheme.
It’s time to start taking action towards building a more sustainable future, where our residents benefit from tourism.
Let’s trial paid parking (residents exempt), or a congestion tax (residents exempt), build better infrastructure, a priority bus lane (local loop), surfboard sheds and lockers (resident priority), invest in Hinterland tourism, improve public toilets and end of trip facilities, build more disability parking and changing places toilets, better beach accesses along the Eastern Beaches and carparking, better walking paths and cycleways, enable worker accommodation in appropriate locations and manage and enforce STA local laws compliance.
Tourism cannot be separated from our community.
We are a tourist town. And we are a resident town. Our challenge is to get this balance right, and to make Noosa a great place to live, work and visit.
The community is a core part of our destination brand and therefore it is important that our community welcomes visitors and supports tourism.
Success of the DMP will therefore be measured by this community by what matters to this community.
The DMP must therefore be driven by both industry and the community.
Important community, environmental and economic concerns are all at play here and the Noosa community has the right to be properly engaged and given the opportunity to get it right.
Genuine consultation, where community feedback matters.
At last week’s Ordinary Meeting Council through a robust EOI process, three individuals with extensive expertise and knowledge in DMPs, Strategic Planning, Sustainable Tourism and Environmental and Risk Management were invited to sit on the DMP Project Control Group: Nathaniel Bromley, Wayne Kayler-Thomson and Michael Tarrant.
The remaining 26 nominees have been invited to join a Community Panel (advisory group) to be involved in the DMP process. Nominees include representatives from business associations, community organisations and residents from the across the Shire.
Together, community, industry and Council will have the opportunity to rethink how we plan for the visitor economy. And how we achieve both resident aspirations and visitor desires for a unique visitor experience.
This is a plan for better tourism that ensures that Noosa continues to be a great place for our residents and visitors.
(The personal views expressed in this article are my own and not necessarily those of Noosa Council.)
