Welcome to this week’s editorial, Once you begin to really look at the Eurobodalla region and see it from a visitors perspective you begin to quickly work out that we don’t present ourselves all that well in what we actually have to offer. Yes, it is the #unspoilt coast however it is far more than that. It is actually a coast of 110km that has 37,000 people living here with the primary industry being tourism however, unlike the north coast we are seasonal and that places an employment burden on our very high number of under-employed residents who look forward to the peak times in order to make ends meet. The Beagle has now officially launched the South Coast Travel Guide website www.southcoasttravelguide.com.au and the visitations are already extraordinary. There is much interest in the South Coast as a holiday destination and summer visitors are already beginning to plan. One of the reassuring things we have to look forward to is that Destination NSW has now located a key destination advisor on the South Coast at Merimbula and they will soon be bringing together a new Destination Plan working in with the Tourism arms of our local coastal Councils. Eurobodalla now has a new Divisional Head overseeing Tourism and that are presently looking for a new Tourism Manager who will hopefully bring in a fresh and contemporary perspective to liven up their otherwise tired and clunky web presence. One of the key areas that needs to be focused on is the stimulation of tourism based businesses to proactively market themselves. We are already seeing excellent examples in businesses like The Mossy Café that continues to showcase their menu via social media. This is being added to by local bespoke tour companies like Region X. Eurobodalla Council Business Development just hosted a FaceBook workshop for businesses to learn how to market themselves in this fast changing market however the takeup was poor less than hoped for, to those who attended the positives to further promote and develop their business was well worth the two hours spent learning. We, as a region need to look at who we are, who our community is, what work they do, how they are employed and how they can maintain what little work they have—it is called tourism and as a community we need to embrace it . Until next, lei
On Instagram? Check out #southcoasttravelguide
