In September 2024, we released the Tourism Precincts Strategic Framework for the City of Onkaparinga, custodians of McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Coast brand which is part of South Australia’s stunning Fleurieu Peninsula.

The Mclaren Vale Wine Region and it's stunning beaches of Aldinga, Port Willunga and Sellicks Beach are well-known and loved by locals and visitors.

However the region is dominated by day trip visitors, particularly across summer, meaning the villages of Mclaren Vale (township), Willunga, Aldinga, Port Willunga, Port Noarlunga and Christie's Beach, and the visitor experiences within these villages are lesser known and the local businesses and community are missing out on realising the full potential of tourism across the year.

Therefore the project aimed to provide the team at City of Onkparinga with the stories, tools and actions for their marketing, visitor servicing and experience development activities to help people better understand and connect with the Villages so they knew ahead of time the diversity of experiences, encourage them to visit outside of summer, encourage them to stay longer, have a deeper and more enriching experience as well as delivering important economic benefit to local businesses and wider community.

Approach

Each of the 5 Precincts has its own unique identity, made up of its many layers of stories histories, natural landscapes and mix of passionate community members and businesses across hospitality, nature-based, retail, cultural and historic experiences.

To deeply understand the individual Precincts, over 50 local stakeholders were engaged across the community, tourism businesses, Trader Associations, City of Onkaparinga staff, Mclaren Vale Wine and Grape Association and Fleurieu Peninsula Tourism.

Identifying future target visitors was a key goal of the Framework. We undertook in-depth analysis across local, regional and state qualitative and quantitative data to identify the visitor groups who had the greatest potential to stay longer, spend more, disperse around the region and take the time to slow down, respect local norms and eat, drink, dine, shop, explore and connect with the businesses, community spaces and natural experiences within each of the Precincts.

Framework Delivery

The foundation of the Framework was the detailed Visitor Persona and Journey Maps. Three identified High-Value Visitors were developed, helping CoO to focus regional marketing and visitor servicing storytelling and activations to drive demand from these visitor groups.

For each of the Precincts, a Storytelling and Experience Development Plan was developed to guide marketing, visitor servicing and experience development for the individual Precincts.

Strategic Insights

1. Wide and Deep Local Listening: Engaging with local residents and businesses was essential to understanding the brand essence and experience priorities that are significant to the community and local businesses.
2. Positive environment, social and cultural benefit - While economic development was the key goal of the project, to realise the full value of tourism for the Precints, we included a focuses on the stories and experience development that were supporting the care and regenerating the natural environment, respecting and supporting local Kaurna culture and delivering positive social impact within the local communities.
3. Strategic Alignment and Collaboration. The Framework outlines clear actions for CoO to enhance economic development through tourism. It also empowers CoO to better support and leverage regional (Fleurieu Peninsula Tourism) and state (South Australia Tourism Commission) demand and supply side activations for the benefit of their Precincts and communities.

Key Outcomes

• Agile Storytelling Positioning and Ideas: The Framework offers a flexible storytelling matrix, allowing CoO to adapt and evolve as Precinct experiences change, driving year-round demand.
• Developing Enriching  Experiences: Each Precinct's unique DNA saw the emergence of specific Experience Development projects for activation. Once activated, these projects will connect visitors and locals to the Precincts' distinct stories, people, businesses, and natural environment while also delivering on the economic development priorities of growing longer stays and greater visitor spending for businesses who call the Precincts home.