Destination Kiama has launched an online survey of business owners and residents to help it determine its priorities and allocate effort and resources.

“We invite everyone to have their say whether you live, work or play in our beautiful Kiama area, we want to hear from you,” says Councillor Matt Brown, chair of Destination Kiama.

“The Destination Team loves working with our local community, and we wish to make this special place as appealing for the people that live here as it is for those who visit.

“While there are always limits to what we can do in terms of the resources we have, knowing what our priorities are enables us to seize funding and other opportunities when they present themselves.”

However Alan Woodward, a member of the Central Precinct Committee, is disappointed with the leading nature of the survey.

“There have often been comments in this community about the tradeoffs between tourism activity and the interests of local residents,” he says.

“The tradeoffs are real – whether it be about the congestion of traffic in the main street, noise, access to community facilities, or the use of open spaces and outdoor facitiies by non-residents.

“There is also the issue of whether one particular industry, such as tourism should be given priority over other areas of economic activity and endeavour.

“The problem with this survey is it makes no attempt to address those tradeoffs, and it presents the community almost with a fait accompli that tourism is good, growth in tourism would be better and we should prioritise tourism over other things.

“My question for Council is on what basis do you make that assumption?”

He says the precinct committees often discuss these tradeoffs, and would welcome the opportunity for detailed information and discussion on tourism activities to take place.

The survey provides a range of opportunities for participants to consider and rank infrastructure projects, such as revitalising Kiama Harbour, and asks people to identify the challenges facing the growth of the local visitor economy, such as lack of accommodation and nighttime entertainment.

The anonymous survey is on the Your Say page of Council’s website and closes 28 April.

If you disclose your details, you can be sent a souvenir touring map for participating.