Light Regional Council
Tourism Plan 2018-2023
Project Scope
Tourism is an important economic driver sustaining businesses and jobs in the Light Regional Council (LRC) region, as well as supporting and adding to the vibrancy of the local community.
LRC is home to a diverse range of tourism experiences, including the western Barossa, with it's many award-winning cellar doors, boutique accommodation and supporting tourism experiences, Kapunda's rich copper mining heritage, Freeling's significant agriculture heritage and Roseworthy College's global leadership in agriculture, equine and viticulture education and research.
To strengthen the Region’s visitor economy, LRC engaged us to work together with its key stakeholders and tourism industry partners to collaboratively develop a strategic Tourism Plan to outline the state of play for tourism in the region, and to identify key strategic opportunities to leverage and engage with in the future.
The Objective
The overarching goal for the Plan was to increase tourism visitation, expenditure, employment and development to the Region.
To achieve this Goal, we identified a number of objectives that the Plan would support, including:
- Improve KPI's and measurement of key visitor economy funding partners; Tourism Barossa and Regional Development Australia Barossa.
- Improve activation of Kapunda Visitor Centre as a growth driver for the region's visitor economy
- Improve engagement with and support for the many community groups who were already actively involved in the region's visitor economy
- Develop and activate the many council owned and managed visitor experiences in the region
- Improve the activation of event opportunities within the region
- Prioritise where to invest resources in place-making and asset-management responsibilities to grow the visitor economy.
The Process
Discovery + Research
We consulted internal and external stakeholders to develop a comprehensive Situation Analysis of the visitor economy in the region.
Stakeholder Engagement
There were numerous government and industry stakeholders whose input was required to gain a clear picture of the state of play for tourism in Light Regional Council.
To obtain their insights, we facilitated consultation workshops in Kapunda and Seppeltsfield in addition to developing and distributing an online survey and facilitating individual meetings.
Over 100 stakeholders were engaged in this project, who identified many opportunities and challenges across the destination, which were vital in informing the new Plan.
Plan Development, Delivery + Adoption
Once we had established a detailed situation analysis of the region, we could then combine these insights with our own knowledge and expertise to develop the Tourism Plan.
To encourage optimal engagement of the plan with the many stakeholders, we developed a summary of the Plan to make it easy to understand and visually engaging.
^ Light Regional Council Tourism Plan 2018 - 2023 Summary
Results
Tourism Funding Commitment
The Plan demonstrated the value of growing the Visitor Economy and its positive economic and social impact on local residents and businesses. As a result, Council's Elected Members supported the implementation of the Plan by allocating appropriate funding to achieve the outcomes.
Tourism Resource Employed + Mentored
We supported Council in the recruitment of a new Tourism Manager for the region, and supported the new Manager by mentoring them through certain areas of the Tourism Plan.
Role Clarity
The Plan has provided clarity and direction for Council on how they can better support and measure the results of their major investments in Tourism Barossa and Regional Development Australia Barossa.
Greater Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder relationships across the region are being strengthened and better leveraged due to the increase in tourism resourcing. The Plan has also provided significant clarity on how all the stakeholders can work together to leverage and activate all opportunities identified in the Plan.
Visitor Centre Staff Trained
Kapunda Visitor Centre staff are currently reviewing and optimising their Visitor Servicing delivery to better support and engage visitors in their region, both on and offline, via the Visitor Servicing + Destination Marketing Bootcamp