Chamber President: Understand competitors
Monday October 28 2013
Chamber President: Understand competitors
Below, Douglas Chamber of Commerce President Phoebe Kitto comments on the Douglas Economic Development Group's (DEDG) calls for the new Shire Council to increase destination marketer funding, and local business community participation in industry organisations.
As The Newsport reported, the DEDG compared the region’s spend on tourism promotion with competitors and found the Douglas Council's expenditure is significantly lower.
Ahead of the local council election on November 9, the DEDG is urging Council candidates to recognise the region's tourism dependency, prioritise a funding boost for TTPD, and engage the small business community.
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"I think everyone in our region understands the importance of the tourism dollar and the impact that it has on all businesses.
"We need to educate the business community on what funding we currently have in place [for destination marketing and management] compared to other regional areas, and that's clearly demonstrated in the DEDG report. For example, Noosa, where there's clearly such a large gap between the two.
"So, we need to understand what our competitors are doing with their tourist dollar, and then see what we would get - the return on investment - if we were to invest more funds towards TPDD or a similar structure."
"Regarding participating by small business, I think we need to look at what we can do to educate the business community, so they better understand the tourism industry in the area, and want to be a part of improving it."
