Outspoken mayor Mike Brunker says Tourism Whitsundays’ decision to shut the information centre at Proserpine is nothing but a political ploy. On Wednesday June 29, TW will close the doors to its information centre on the Bruce Highway citing funding cuts as the major contributor.
Cr Brunker says it’s rich to blame council for the closure of the information centre “considering it’s been running at a loss for ten years.”
“Last year council gave TW an extra $100,000 for marketing and we still had 31 shops close. Perhaps the only good thing that will come out of this is TW will get off their backsides and do something about it,” Mayor Mike said.
“Closing the information centre is just a political swipe at council.”
At lunchtime on Monday, TW chairman Chris Jacobs went to the information centre to tell staff the bad news.
“We had to make immediate cuts in our budget in order to remain financially responsible,” Mr Jacobs said.
“Clearly our primary role is raising awareness of the Whitsunday region, seeking to attract more visitors and in the year ahead this will have to be our sole focus. At the same time we are trying to re-engage in discussions with council about our funding moving forward,” Mr Jacobs said, adding he would be looking forward to the chance to inform council of the full implications of the funding cuts.
Meanwhile Cr Brunker defended the decision to reduce its cash contribution towards the operation of Tourism Whitsunday saying the council was committed to the long-term prosperity of tourism in the region.
“I understand Tourism Whitsundays is disappointed at receiving a reduction in their cash flow this year, but Council is pouring millions of dollars into projects that will in the long term, stimulate and grow the region’s tourism sector,” he said.
“A flourishing tourism sector relies on the development of appropriate infrastructure to service tourists’ needs and expectations. This includes airport infrastructure, utility provision and precinct redevelopment”.
“Without good airport and road infrastructure and the availability of affordable basic services such as power, water and sewerage, and the revitalisation of existing tourism assets, the region’s tourism sector suffers,” Mr Brunker said.
At last week’s council meeting Councillors Jennifer Whitney and Jan Clifford both argued against reducing the contribution to TW, refusing to support the motion.
“Tourism is in a bad way. Council has an obligation to support the industry and promote the whole region. I don’t think we should be pulling money out,” Cr Whitney said. “$150,000 is not enough money,” Cr Clifford said, adding, once the funding was cut, TW was at risk of "going under".
Cr Brunker, however made it obvious he took offence to anyone at the meeting saying council wasn’t supporting tourism.
“Since we lost the flight to Sydney, we can pump all the money we like into TW, but the solution lies with attracting people to the region. Without bums on seats we’ve got nothing. This year’s budget we are actually spending over $5m on a number of projects which will ultimately help tourism.
“This is why council has decided to invest $200,000 to employ a business development and marketing manager for the Whitsunday Coast Airport,” he said.
Tourism minister Jan Jarratt said while she was pleased to see council taking airport management seriously, it was a blow for Tourism Whitsunday. "The government, through Tourism Queensland will continue to work with TW to promote our area and build business resilience and capability."
Tourism Whitsundays Chief Executive Officer Peter O’Reilly says council’s decision to cut funding is frustrating and extremely disappointing coming at a time where tourism in the Whitsundays was suffering.
“While appointing a strategic manager for the airport is a step in the right direction, airport development should be funded from the airport business unit, not taking away from destination marketing funds,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“Reducing destination marketing is directly counterproductive to the
desire to get increased flights, because airlines will not introduce new flights without demand for them and it’s naïve of council to believe otherwise,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment