Shire joins with GORRT to showcase the region

GREAT Ocean Road Regional Tourism (GORRT) and the Surf Coast Shire council are partnering to revive the region’s tourism industry.

The council has allocated $75,000 from its COVID-19 Recovery Assistance program to GORRT for a marketing campaign promoting the shire and its townships to prospective travellers.

The shire’s general manager of environment and development Ransce Salan said the council would work closely with GORRT to ensure the best outcome for the region.

“We’re developing a funding agreement with Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism to ensure these funds go to marketing initiatives that will specifically benefit the Surf Coast. Our officers will work with GORRT on these initiatives and we’ll report the results back to council.

“The Great Ocean Road is a strong, well-established brand, so we have a great opportunity to leverage this and appeal to a broader market through this partnership.”

GORRT frequently creates destination-specific campaigns with local governments and tourism associations. General manager Liz Price said GORRT would adapt the Surf Coast marketing campaign depending on the situation with the coronavirus.

“The idea will be to do some tactical marketing over the next 12 months. But it will depend on what restrictions are in place and what will work best for the Surf Coast Shire.”

Ms Price said the reintroduction of stage three restrictions in Melbourne would significantly affect when and how they delivered the campaign.

“It’s two-fold: Melbourne’s a core market where the majority of our visitation comes from, and we’ll be looking to keep front of mind with our core audience because it’s also going to be one of the markets everyone else is targeting to try to recover from the lack of international tourists. So, you’ll be a much bigger spend by our interstate counterparts, like Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales to try and recover a new market.

“Likewise, we’re keen to explore some more interstate marketing because we don’t traditionally get very significant visitation from interstate, so we think there’s an opportunity to potentially grow those markets as well.”

Mr Salan similarly said Melbourne’s lockdown would change the timing of the campaign.

“The marketing initiatives will be timed to provide maximum benefit for traders.

“Melburnians make up the vast majority of our visitors; around 75 to 80 per cent of overall visitation to the Surf Coast comes from those in the greater Melbourne area.

“Given the significance of the Melbourne market, the timing of some marketing initiatives may alter.”