IGAP III: Tourism

These 3 posts are not a close-ended plan covering all of the issues with all of the answers, but a template or outline not least of all for those who apparently criticise me as an irresponsible 'wrecker'; well here's my plan, and it's a darn sight better than the nonsense Council comes up with; in fact I don't know that they have an actual plan.    (further development issues in future posts-any ideas, please comment),

Rather than re-iterate many of my previous blogs, please read the posts re the Old Rail Lands, Bus Shelter, etc, that outline the broader agenda of Councillors on Mt Gambier City Council (past and present) to sell the Old Rail Lands for Retail Development, and the damage that has done to Mt Gambier.

Unfortunately, Tourism issues in Mt Gambier are as compromised by nepotism and self-focussed corruption of appropriate process as any planning or development issue, and this can drastically affect the effectiveness of funding programs, etc, as money gets directed not on merit but association.

Also, because of the relentless nepotism associated with other 'successful' businesses that have the distinct advantage of supporters on Council, those who work hard to establish themselves get tarnished with the same brush, eg, people repeatedly make comments to me about Engelbrecht and Umpherston Caves, the Old Goal, etc, unfortunately lumping them in with issues like the extraordinarily in-appropriate processes whereby Councillor Des Mutton's son Lachlan Mutton (Sorrento's) was given exclusive (still free?) control of the Main Corner Function facilities.

I am not about criticising individuals or businesses over their decisions and/or business practices other than if it involves Council malfeasance, but there are some basic things that can be done to increase the customer base for all Mt Gambier businesses.

Council's empty rhetoric on the importance of 'Tourism' is defined by their actions, eg, flatly refusing to place the Bus Terminal in town, instead committing to a pointless $250,000 tent in a windswept carpark so that tourists get dumped in the middle of no-where in the dark and the rain; and then lying about the costs and the tender, etc....disgraceful.

All of that infrastructure, including the boat and the Bus shelter, should be on/at the Old Rail land.

The Blue Lake is supposedly the iconic tourism focus for Mt Gambier, the Blue Lake city, yet there is no way to see it other than from a lookout or on a foot tour; there is no accomodation or even a cafe/restaurant whatever where people can sit in all weathers, and observe the lake.

Maintenance of lookouts and surrounds is woeful; there is rubbish and broken glass strewn about carparks and lookouts, eg, the same nappy on the ground for over 2 months until it disintegrated and blew away in pieces; Council waited until the middle of the 2012/13 holidays to fell dozens of trees blocking the view from the 'Water Tower' lookout, and then just left them lying on the ground; it looks absolutely terrible.

Why is there not some sort of small cafe thingy on the lake side of the current 'kiosk'? What's there now looks like a European BusStop, not the premier Tourism facility for one of the premier Tourism attractions of the Lower South East.

Council has attempted to shift the blame onto the tour operators, intimating that they blocked Council attempts to build just such a 'cafe' so as to force people to take the Pumping Station Tour, but in their defence the Tour Operators quite rightly point out that Council does what it wants when and if it feels like it, and nobody tells them what to do.

Also, I believe that the original Council plans for the site are for something markedly smaller that what currently exists, and doesn't include any sort of 'cafe' at all, and that this is therefore yet another example of Councillors attacking people they don't like and/or trying to shift blame and responsibility for something that is Council's responsibility; good, bad, or indifferent.

It is an acknowledged fact that many tourists pass through Mt Gambier via a petrol station and a quick look at the Blue Lake (from a lookout) on their way to somewhere else, often a coastal 'resort town' like Robe or Beachport, or the Coonawarra, or maybe Pt Fairy or the Great Ocean Rd, etc, or simply Adelaide-Melbourne.

In winter this is greatly exascerbated as tourists run to the lookout, go "oh, it's grey" (I've heard them), run back to their cars, and keep on trucking; they spend little if any time/money in Mt Gambier.

If there was a cafe there, even a small one, with a protected view of the Blue Lake, a roaring log fire, etc, people could stop for a hot drink and a scone (pronounced Scone) and luxuriate over the view meaning they are more likely to spend a night, particularly in winter with it's shorter days, and in summer the same facility would offer some respite from the heat for the elderly, etc; at the moment it is often hotter in the kiosk than outside. 

When Tourists spend a night in Mt Gambier they need accomodation (eg, in a caravan park), often eat out, do a spot of shopping, walk past and maybe even through the Main Corner, etc; it is fundamental to effective Tourism that people spend time (and therefore their money) in Mt Gambier.

City Council does not seem to have a definable plan for Tourism to achieve this goal, eg, my 'IGAP' post for tourist parking and parklands on the Old Rail Lands that provides a reason to stop, and somewhere to park when you do.

And a level playing field would be nice, eg, no money for the Blue Lake 'cafe' and proper maintenance of the lookout, no central bus shelter, no covered pool, etc, yet a local business can access a small fortune via Regional Development Australia.

One of the first decisions by City Councillor Biddie Tietz in her role as 'Tourism person' (sorry, I don't know the actual title) for the RDA  was to give $140,000 to the owners of a well-established function and accomodation business, whom I then saw on the now defuncted WIN TV News quipping about how they were going "to buy some shiny new taps" for their nearly completed, extensive and expensive renovations.

I'm sure other local function, tourism, catering, restaurant, etc, businesses are looking forward to receiving their massive grants....check your letterboxes....it's on the way.....honest......the cheque is in the mail!

Which leads nicely onto....

Tomorrow: Regional Development Australia 
Why is it so 'secretive', and how do people like Grant King and Biddie Tietz, with definably poor business histories, get appointed to important positions on Regional Development Australia?