Im pretty sure that theres a few misconceptions / misunderstandings about attempts to retain the historic portion of the Hotel Australasia building. Speaking for myself and at least some of my counterparts, retention of the historic portion of the building is definitely not about naval gazing and living in the past, but about understanding the likely demands of the future. Like it or not, Edens traditional industries are gradually but surely dying out and until someone comes up with a viable alternative, tourism is and will continue to grow in economic importance for the local population. With this in mind, we need to be aware of what is being demanded by the industry - and as statistics show, one of the fastest growing and most economically important markets is in the area of cultural tourism in general and the Experience Seeker tourist in particular. As recent evidence shows, cultural heritage assets have an increasingly powerful pull factor for both domestic and international tourists. A 2008 Tourism Research Australia report showed cultural and heritage activities had the largest growth area, with an average annual increase of 1.7 per cent expected between 2006 and 2020. In 2010, domestic activity accounted for around three-quarters of the $90 billion Australian tourism industry and cultural and heritage tourism showed the only growth area in an otherwise stagnant market. Since 2006, domestic overnight visitors participating in cultural and heritage activities grew by 11 per cent, while overall figures remained even; and international tourists involved in cultural and heritage figures also grew by three percent. These types of tourists also tend to stay longer and spend more. NSW is the most popular Australian state for both domestic and international tourists participating in cultural and heritage activities. Almost 9.5 million visitors took part in such activities, staying 56.3 million nights and spending around $7.9 billion. The most popular activity for international tourists was visiting an historic / heritage building, site or monument (63.9 per cent). The South-Coast Sub-Region was the second most popular NSW destination for international tourists; while domestic tourists to the same region accounted for around 250,000 people. They stayed 1,215,000 nights and their second most popular activity was visiting historic / heritage buildings, sites or monuments. As one of the key industries in the Bega Valley Shire, tourism currently injects around $255 million into our annual economy. Popular seaside towns like Eden experience a three-fold population growth during the peak Summer period. Employment figures at the last census emphasises the value of tourism to the region - retail, the largest industry by employment size, accounted for 13.8 per cent of all workers, closely followed by the accommodation and food service industry (11.2 per cent), both of which are above the national average. At the present time, while local tourism is largely a seasonal industry, cultural and heritage tourism offers important opportunities to significantly expand this beyond the traditional Christmas holiday period. Neighbouring Eurobodalla Shire Councillor Thomson highlighted the fact that cultural and heritage tourism is not a specific, seasonally reliant aspect of the industry, pointing out that Heritage tourism can be enjoyed all year round. This means our heritage has the potential to smooth out some of the peaks and troughs in visitor numbers. The value of the Experience Seeker market locally has been recognised by peak body Sapphire Coast Tourisms Heritage Strategy and Bega Valley Shire Councils Cultural Focus - Our Cultural Places. Eurobodalla Shire also announced in February 2014 their new strategy to guide heritage management, one of the key tasks being the development of a heritage tourism guide. Councillor Fergus Thomson, Chairman of the Heritage Advisory Committee, noted the important relationship between extant heritage and tourism, stating that Tourism makes up a significant part of our economy and the Eurobodalla Heritage Strategy supports on the many reasons people love to visit the Eurobodalla. With cultural tourism representing such a valuable growth area, retention and reutilisation of built heritage items has increasingly important long-term economic value. This is particularly true for towns such as Eden, where, as I said, our traditional industries are being eroded and residents are forced to look further a field for economic stability. The growing number of local families enduring the fly in / fly out, six weeks on / six weeks off lifestyle, travelling as far away as Western Australia and northern Queensland to secure employment is indicative of this. And the social and familial repercussions of this increasingly common but economical crucial situation is yet to be felt to its full extent. With these issues in mind, please dont disregard the important role that the Hotel Australasia and other local heritage buildings can play for the towns future economic survival...
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 06:20:47 +0000
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