A REPORT that has criticised a shortage of government resources for tourism echoes concerns tourism bodies have had for many years, but regional marketing is still of best advantage to places like Glen Innes, council’s manager of economic development and tourism Wendy Fahey believes.

The report by former Tourism NSW head John O’Neill, that was commissioned by the State government last year and released earlier this month, looked at areas of marketing, infrastructure, regulation and planning.

Ms Fahey challenged a claim by Mr O’Neill that the New England North West regional tourism organisation was “far too large...with no coherence in product or customers”.

“Certainly we are very large with a diverse product, but we share rural lifestyle, events, natural attractions, connect iconic attractions through touring drives and all offer holidays that attract the touring by car market. It’s not so much the size or boundaries of the region, as the lack of State government resources for it and restrictions imposed on how the funds are spent.”

Ms Fahey said while there were shortcomings under regional branding, it did not exclude the ability of Glen Innes to seek funding for single-event marketing (such as Flagship Events funding for the Australian Celtic Festival) along with tourism development funds through State and Regional Development.

“There is great value in partnering together; we all have a great shared product known as New England, and collectively we can attract interest by offering a destination with quality experiences,” she said.

“The report makes a case for self-managed but regions must have an annual budget starting at $750,000. A place like Glen Innes is made up of a lot of small operators and organisations who would find increasing membership contributions significantly very difficult to achieve. However the alternative is also a concern, that marketing could be centralised from Sydney, where there will be little knowledge of the product and the risk of no passion for what is unique about each place.”

Further, the past direction of funding provided by Tourism New South Wales for marketing regional areas has focused on consumers in Sydney, rather than Newcastle, other regional areas, Victoria and south east Queensland.

“With higher fuel prices and tighter budgets, people are taking shorter breaks - we need to market more effectively and not be directed to market in areas that aren’t where are majority of our potential customers are realistically going to travel from.”

However the fact a report which highlighted both the tremendous value of tourism in regional areas, the lack of State government funding and the need to change how funds were spent was being read by the Premier was pleasing.

“It has also given us some messages, such as recommendations that NSW could be capitalising on national parks more though improving access and increasing awareness,” Ms Fahey said.

IT may have only happened once in the past five or so years, but clear weather allowed the sun’s rays to strike the Australis stone at the centre of the Australian Standing Stones at dawn on the shortest day of the year on Saturday, kicking off winter solstice activities.

Organiser Joanne Cause said the stone “lit up beautifully” at the dawn service, attended by around 40 people including Glen Innes Severn mayor Steve Toms and his wife Judi.

“It’s a privilege to be in the largest array of standing stones in the southern hemisphere at the winter solstice, but moreso this year, because it’s only fine enough weather about every five years and was raining last year,” she said.

Later that day, just before sunset, festivities continued, about 60 people heard Ms Cause give an outline of the importance of the solstices; watched a demonstration of archery from Greg James from Cabarita, Queensland, and listened to a talk by astrologer Leonie Price about the importance of the solstice and equinoxes.

Mrs Price, who with her husband recently moved to Glen Innes after purchasing Mackenzie House in West Avenue, gave a display of ‘dowsing’ lines of energy - an act similar to water divining - in the western half of the stone circle.

“In most stone circles the energy leys (lines) are at their most powerful at the solstice and equinoxes, and this has been shown here. The stone circle helps to fix the energy grid,” Mrs Price said.

According to Celtic tradition, the yule log - a remnant of last year’s winter solstice bonfire- was then lit and used by the ‘Oak King’ (Steve Funnell) to ignite a large bonfire, under which were five 44-gallon drums containing about a dozen pottery works to be fired, made by local artists. The Oak King and the Holly King then did battle reflecting the change of the seasons.

“The lighting of the fire with a log from the past reflects the continuity of the flame of life,” Mrs Cause said.

The works were removed from their ‘kiln’ on Sunday afternoon, as part of more activities including a talk by author and district resident John Pathlander on how communities can save the world using natural energy, and a sausage sizzle hosted by Clan Donald.

“It was a great success. We may not have had a lot more people than in past years but we still attracted international visitors who came just for the weekend. There will be a new team organising it next year and I am sure it will only grow,” Mrs Cause said.

Inspiration on tap at business forum

JAMIE FAKES

18/06/2008 4:29:00 PM

Glen Innes Severn Council’s first Business and Industry Forum has been hailed as an outstanding success with guest speaker Bruce Sullivan far exceeding expectations.

The three-hour forum attracted a crowd of more than 100 eager to take home tips to help their business thrive. Council’s Manager of Economic Development and Tourism Wendy Fahey said the public response received was much appreciated and further supports the goal of holding similar events in the future.

“We appreciate that people gave up their time to invest in how to grow their business. It was encouraging to see and we are hoping to make it an annual event,” she said.

Owners of Jamesies Fuel and Fix, Wayne and Fiona James, had nothing but praise for the evening and found great benefit from what was said.

“It was really excellent. It was great we could get it here and we appreciate council holding it,” Mrs James said.

“There was a lot to take on board and we would definitely go to another if it was on a different aspect of business.”

Glenrac Community Support Officer Kylie Falconer was also impressed by the evening.

“I thought it was excellent, Bruce Sullivan was a truly inspirational speaker, the entire evening was very professionally organised and very enjoyable,” she said.

Mr Sullivan’s background in business began as a teenager when he first managed his own business. He continued to strive and achieve, and is now a director of six private companies.

Mr Sullivan’s ability to relate to the audience and draw on his own experiences kept the audience on the edge of their seats and laughing in the aisles.

“Bruce not only met but exceeded our expectations. He used funny stories from his own life experiences to relate to the audience. He spoke on the way how we live our life can impact on our success and the difference treatment of customers and staff can make,” Ms Fahey said.

“He provided a positive mind set but it wasn’t an over sell. He told of how important it is to focus on goals to produce the best result.”

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Tourism review welcomed

Solstice events full of energy

Inspiration on tap at business forum