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She said this could include initiatives such as off-season travel campaigns, hosting festivals and events during quieter periods, promoting voluntourism and encouraging regenerative tourism activities like tree planting on local farms.<\/p>\n
But Wylie said securing state and federal support required having a formal Destination Management Plan in place. Such a plan serves as a strategic roadmap to guide the sustainable growth of a tourism destination through coordinated planning, development and marketing.<\/p>\n
While Byron Shire Council is working on a Sustainable Visitation Strategy 2020\u20132030, Wylie said there is some confusion over whether it qualifies as a Destination Management Plan.<\/p>\n
“The issue is without calling it a Destination Management Plan it hampers the ability to attract state and federal funding,” she said.<\/p>\n
“All the other LGAs just call it a Destination Management Plan and do it in a way that it’s easy for funding bodies to see it ticks the right boxes.<\/p>\n
“The Tweed spends more than $1 million per year on destination management and has a formal Destination Management Organisation called Tweed Tourism Co., and they received $700,000 from Destination NSW for one campaign.”<\/p>\n
Wylie said there are multiple models that could be considered, but the priority is to establish a formal Destination Management Plan and Organisation.<\/p>\n
“There are different models out there and at Destination Byron we don’t have our heart set on anything \u2013 we’re just trying to get a formal Destination Management Plan and Destination Management Organisation off the ground,” she said. “The current members of Destination Byron don’t really want to be in that DMO. We’d like to have a competitive hiring process with people that have amazing experience, not just us volunteers.”<\/p>\n
The volunteer-run Byron Bay Information Office, previously located in the old stationmaster’s cottage in town, also closed in August. Visitor information is now being provided online via the Visit Byron Bay website, while the former office space has been repurposed for roadwork construction teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BYRON Bay tourism operators are set to discuss the potential introduction of a bed tax or levy to help manage the impact of overtourism in the popular coastal town. The issue will be on the agenda at an upcoming tourism symposium hosted by Destination Byron at the Byron Community Centre on October 23. Jeanie Wylie, […]<\/p>\n