Council is currently inviting submissions on its Draft Tourism and Events Strategy.

With tourism being the LGA’s highest economic driver, contributing over $244 million to the local economy in 2019, a strategic approach is especially vital in the wake of COVID-19.

“We haven’t had a lot of feedback yet,” says Councillor Matt Brown, chair of the Destination Kiama Tourism Advisory Committee.

“So that means the community is either happy about what we are doing or they are not as engaged as we would like them to be.

“We would like to see more submissions because we have been very careful in our tourism planning to make sure the community moves with us.”

Sally Bursell, Kiama Council’s Acting Tourism and Events Manager, says that you only had to walk down the street during the pandemic to see how much our towns rely on tourism.

“This strategy is a recovery plan to provide support for businesses, so we want to find out from people in tourism what kind of support they need. This is the time to have your say.”

The Draft Strategy sits alongside the Tourism Opportunity Plan, developed in 2018, which sets out Kiama’s strategic positioning and priorities to support a robust visitor economy.

The Jazz & Blues Festival brings people in for the weekend

It generally focuses on encouraging a greater number of visitors in off-peak and shoulder periods, increasing expenditure by visitors, and supporting activity that encourages growth in twilight and evening experiences.

“The visitor to Kiama actually spends more money in our community than locals do,” says Cllr Brown.

“Because of this, we get a lot more offerings in our community in the shape of cafes, restaurants and activities.

“That’s why the visitor economy is so important, because without it the businesses that we do have will close up.

“We believe we have a small window, when people are still reluctant to go overseas, to capture visitors to Kiama before we have to change our marketing strategy again.”

The Strategy ‘seeks to facilitate sustainable growth and enable investment while also protecting and enhancing our natural environment, celebrating our culture and sharing our local resident’s values’.

The KISS Arts Fest

This recognises higher visitor numbers can have both positive and negative results. Some destinations such as Venice, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and New Zealand which suffered (pre-COVID) from ‘overtourism’, have toyed with or introduced tourism taxes to help mitigate the negative effects created by large volumes of tourists – costs such as excess rubbish collection, toilet maintenance and general wear and tear to tourist areas.

This concept is controversial with some studies showing it to be counterproductive.

Cllr Brown says this is one of the reasons why Kiama’s events strategy is all about overnight stays, to change the minds of tourists who think that a visit to Kiama is just a day trip.

“Day trippers don’t spend anywhere near the amount that overnighters do, but they bring the same amount of rubbish and use the same facilities,” says Cllr Brown.

Ms Bursell says, “What I need to do in this role is to alleviate our seasonality stress, by having events outside peak times. In winter, people don’t think of our destination.

“We are aiming to promote a brain reset through our marketing strategy and also disperse people through our regions and take them off the beaten track.”

The Strategy also says things need to be open after 8pm.

“Destination Kiama is in support of all things mentioned in the recent night-time economy meeting, done in a sensitive way to consider residents living close to venues,” Ms Bursell says.

“There is a need for after-dark entertainment, and we are here to support people who have the exuberance to offer it. Otherwise, people will go to the next town, and we don’t want that.”

Each market and event currently has to obtain its own DA

Streamlining the process for professional event organisers to get their events and gigs happening is a priority, as Cllr Brown says currently there is too much red tape.

“Since Destination Kiama was brought into Council, we now offer a concierge service to advise event organisers who to speak to in Council to get information.

“At present, larger scale events need a DA to operate on public land. But in Wollongong they have a blanket DA for their venues, which means people don’t have to apply every year for the same events. This saves costs and time both for the event organiser and Council.

“A streamlined process can help Kiama to be recognised as an event-friendly destination and attract high quality events.”

Submissions close at 4pm 22 April 22. View at www.kiama.nsw.gov.au/Council/Your-say

Disclaimer: The author, Perrie Croshaw, is a former member of the Destination Kiama Tourism Advisory Committee