Central Coast Tourism has not been chosen as the successful tenderer to deliver tourism marketing services for the Central Coast Council.
The existing funding agreement between Council and Central Coast Tourism will cease from June 30.
Central Coast Tourism held a Special General Meeting on Tuesday, May 30, to determine whether to wind up the organisation or find a way to continue beyond the termination of its contract.
Newly-appointed Chair, Mr David Jewell, said the meeting was attended by 60 members out of the organisation’s 250 member base.
Central Coast Council CEO, Mr Rob Noble, attended the meeting and fielded questions from members.
Mr Jewell said the members were asked to vote on whether or not to wind up Central Coast Tourism and the vote was almost unanimous to find a way to keep the organisation going as a member-based advocacy group.
He said one option may be to continue as a Local Tourism Organisation (LTO), a recognised tourism body to support operators and tourism in the region
“That may work provided Council and the new operators recognised Central Coast Tourism as an LTO,” he said.
“They are going to need some way to interface and work with tourism operators in the region and we are already a representative body.
“We approached Central Coast Council a year ago about the need to invest more money so that we could deliver the services necessary to promote the region effectively, and we had a number of meetings with them.”
Mr Jewell said the restructure of regional tourism in NSW meant that the Greater Sydney North area was now receiving funding that was previously received by Central Coast Tourism.
“With that money not available, there were limited funds available for Central Coast Tourism to continue to operate.
“Council agreed that it needed to contribute more but said it needed to go through due process.
“It decided to increase its funding to $800,000 pa for the next two years, but said it needed to draw up a new contract and work through a tender process.
“I said to our members last night that we all want the same thing, we all want tourism to grow so the region can be successful and thrive.
“If Council has a better way to make that happen, then we should give them the opportunity, but the difficulty at the moment is that they don’t have a contract [with the preferred tenderer], so they can’t demonstrate who is going to deliver that better way, how they are going to do it, and there is some scepticism that they have got it right.
“At this stage, there are more questions than answers, and it has been a difficult and an unusual way to go about doing things,” he said.
Mr Jewell said members at the meeting did ask such questions of Mr Noble.
“Yes, they were asked of Mr Noble and, no, he wasn’t able to give specific answers at this stage,” he said.
“They could’ve come to us and said they were unhappy with the service we were delivering, that they were going to terminate our contract and go to the market, but they did not do that; we never had that conversation.
“We were never told that we were not doing a good job, and it is ironic that our last action will be to deliver the 2017-21 Central Coast Tourism Management Plan (TMP) for the unified Central Coast LGA that has always been the brand we have promoted.
“We have put various strategies, strategic plans and business plans in front of the Administrator.
“I know how much time and effort went into our tender so that we would be ready to restructure and go from July 1, and we were working on that at the same time as the TMP.
“Now our members are saying what is going to happen from July 1, when will this new provider be ready to go, we have businesses that need promotion for Spring, will they be ready?
“Central Coast Tourism is an independent body that is partly funded by Council but also by the NSW Government and its members, and we have been spending over $1 million per year to deliver the services required by Council.
“We are a not-for-profit organisation with volunteer directors, and now some Sydney-based marketing company is going to come in and spend rate payers’ money to promote tourism on the Central Coast,” Mr Jewell said, adding that “it remained to be seen whether the new structure would be effective,” he said.
The nine staff employed by Central Coast Tourism have been given their termination notices, effective mostly from May 31 with extensions of one month.
The Kariong Tourism Information Centre building is owned by Central Coast Tourism and the land it is on is leased for 25 years.
“The tender had very wide scope and asked for a lot of information, which we provided, and that is why we thought we were in the box seat.
“We don’t know where we went wrong.
“Our members give us $120,000 per year to work with and at the meeting they commented that no one from Council had asked them about the services provided or what the region needs.
“The Central Coast had 4.3 million bed nights last year and tourism makes $860 million in revenue; it is a major employer and not something to play with.
“My attitude is that we will work with the new council and new operators, we will give them our support, but we are going into an election period and a new council, and the CEO and Administrator will be gone in a couple of months.
“If this goes belly up there is a reputational risk to consider,” he said.
Towards the end of 2016, Council called for requests for proposals for suitably qualified organisations to deliver tourism services, and received 14 proposals.
None of the tenderers, including Central Coast Tourism, was announced by Council’s Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, as the successful organisation at Council’s May ordinary meeting.
Council is now negotiating with the first ranked tenderer with a view to entering into a two year contract for the delivery of a marketing strategy and associated services for the local tourism industry to promote economic development and enhance tourism opportunities on the Coast.
Mr Reynolds said Council was firmly committed to investment in tourism due to the huge benefits it delivers for the region.
“Tourism is a significant industry on the Central Coast, employing over 12,500 people and generating over $900m a year for the regional economy,” Mr Reynolds said.
“Council will increase our direct funding of tourism to $800,000 a year and will also continue to contribute financially towards stimulating the visitor economy through events, sponsorship, care of the region’s natural attractions and major infrastructure projects.
“Council is pleased with the response to the tender process which has seen high quality external agencies and organisations looking to be involved in tourism promotion for the Central Coast.
“We are confident we have found the right organisation with the most effective strategy to deliver better economic returns and jobs for our growing region.
“Together with the new external provider and Destination Network Sydney Surrounds North, Council will focus efforts on the strong regional positioning of the Central Coast and the opportunity to capitalise on visitor growth.
Details of the new external provider and strategy to boost tourism on the Central Coast will be announced once the contract is finalised.
Following the Central Coast Tourism Special General Meeting, Council said it welcomed the local tourism industry body’s decision to continue as an industry body to input into the direction of the Coast’s tourism.
Mr Noble said it was an exciting time for tourism on the Central Coast with more changes happening now than have happened in the past 20 years.
“The passion and commitment of the local tourism industry is great,” Mr Noble said.
“Combined with Council’s increased investment, a new Destination Network with a purpose to capitalise on increased visitor growth opportunity, a new Destination Management Plan, and the advent of a new marketing approach to implement it – we are all hopeful that we can all head in the same direction to deliver more for our region.
“The local tourism industry told us over 18 months ago that they wanted improvements on how tourism is approached with a clear message to create the environment for tourism to flourish.
“That is what we are doing.”
Council will work with Central Coast Tourism on the type of industry body and how it fits together with Council’s new service provider, who will be contracted to deliver a marketing strategy and associated program for the local tourism industry to promote economic development and enhance tourism opportunities on the Coast.
Council is continuing discussions with the first ranked tenderer to enter into a two year contract commencing on July 1.
Source:
Interview, May 31
David Jewell, Central Coast Tourism
Media release, May 24
Central Coast Council media
Media release, May 31
Central Coast Council media
Jackie Pearson, journalist