Major opportunities

Friday May 19, 2023

Tourism is one of our regions greatest opportunities.

Opportunity to create jobs, opportunity to bring outside money into our local economy and opportunity to grow our region.

At the start of the year, I wrote a letter inviting the new South Australian Tourism Commission CEO Emma Terry to visit our region.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms Terry this week as she visited Mount Gambier and the Limestone Coast.

My reasons for inviting South Australia’s new head of tourism are clear - I see tourism as a major growth opportunity for our region.

However, we need to develop the right structures and a focused plan to attract that all-important funding and address regulatory hurdles.

I spoke with Ms Terry about unlocking private capital in the development of attractions and product offerings in the tourism sector.

Back in 2015, I started a Mount Gambier Outside the Box initiative which sparked plenty of amazing ideas about potential tourism initiatives for our city.

Five-star hotels, luge tracks and zipwires across the Valley lakes, were just a few.

For years afterwards, I had people contact me about how to bring some of those ideas to life and I’m still confident some of those will happen.

Our government plays a major role through the South Australian Tourism Commission but I believe we shouldn’t be waiting for the government to tell us how to sell our region.

In my mind, tourism is a team effort.

We’re the experts in our own region and we have to start coming forward with our own ideas.

In South Australia, we are lucky to have a strong entrepreneurial spirit alive and kicking.

Fostering an environment to support the big-picture thinkers and unlock private capital is crucial for experience and product development.

The opportunities are there – we have to grab them with both hands.

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