Call for community input on tourism plan

WITH TRC Tourism, the City of Ballarat developed a Traveller Experience Plan in June that focused on improving future visitor experiences in the municipality.

Now industry professionals and the community are invited to view the 10-year plan for the city and share their thoughts and ideas.

The project was developed by TRC Tourism, an international recreation, tourism and planning consulting firm, who was selected through a competitive tender process.

In a snapshot, the plan aims to help the city become a hub for regional tourism by showcasing some of its best assets including its heritage architecture, food and wine scene, public art spaces and Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung cultures.

City of Ballarat events manager Jeff Johnson said the nature of the TEP follows a principle of co-design which incorporates ideas from both major industry players and the community.

“Tourism is a significant economic driver for Ballarat, in the top eight for industry sectors,” he said.

“We want to collaborate to get to a position, tourism wise, we all want Ballarat to be in in 2030.

“To have a TEP like this and have everyone embrace it and work towards it will enable not just the tourism sector but everyone in town to be happy and talk about it.”

The plan also aims to address the impacts of COVID-19 on local and global economies to support the recovery of our tourism.

Mr Johnson said the plan needs to consider the pandemic and then be used as a guiding tool to navigate back to business as usual.

“We have to understand what is blocking people from coming, COVID being the biggest right now, and figure out how we get through that,” he said.

“Part of it will be understanding our tourism market and their confidence with travelling around Victoria.

“Some of it will be giving visitors assurance that we have restrictions still in place like 1.5-meter distancing or to even target statewide travel while going interstate and overseas is out of the picture.”

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Ben Taylor said support and recovery of the tourism sector is vital to the area’s future economy.

“It’s imperative that all stakeholders have the opportunity to have their say about this new tourism plan,” he said.

“The TEP will play a significant role in kick starting our economy in a post COVID-19 world.”

Feedback on the Ballarat Traveller Experience Plan will be open until Monday, 31 August at mysay.ballarat.vic.gov.au.