Welcome to the Bunbury Geographe Tourism Industry Newsletter.
The Bunbury Geographe Tourism Partnership and Australia’s South West acknowledge the traditional custodians throughout the South West of Western Australia / Noongar Boodjar and their continuing connection to the land, waters and communities. We pay our respects to all members of the Pinjarup, Wiilman, Wadandi, Pibelman, Kaneang, Minang, Koreng Aboriginal communities and their cultures; and to Elders past, present and emerging.
Dear Stakeholders and Industry Colleagues
It has been a while since the last eNews. We have a few exciting things to brief you on, some changes and some opportunities. In February Samantha Wright joined the Bunbury Geographe Tourism Team providing marketing support. Sam is a Bunbury local and is working on several campaigns and will be managing our social media channels going forward. Having her in the team has increase our capacity to deliver marketing activities hugely.
We are aiming to send out these industry updates quarterly. Please feel free to share this newsletter with your networks. Sign up for the Industry update here.
We are aiming to get out and about a bit more over the coming months now that vintage and the school holidays are over for a while. If you have a new product or experiences you would like to showcase please reach out, we’d love to come and see you and help you develop and promote your business.
Warm Regards
Claire
Claire Savage
info@visitbunburygeographe.com.au
0407 206 860
Bunbury Geographe Tourism Manager
FOUND Issue 9 Launch 2 May 2023
We have now finalised Issue 9 of FOUND.
To celebrate the launch of the magazine we are having a networking function at the Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre May 2nd from 5-7. Please register here, we can’t wait to catch up with you.
It will be available from Vanguard Publishing from early May. You can order if for FREE from here.
Marketing Activity
With the recruitment of Samantha Wright we have been able to step up our marketing campaign activity. We have developed marketing and social media plans and you can expect to see more activity over the next 12 months. We are once again partnering with ASW on the Winter campaign and will be working with the team from Lost and Found to raise the profile of this important regional event.
How to BunGeo
With the support of the South West Development Commission’s Regional Economic Development Grant program we have been able to develop a series of itineraries to make it easier for visitors to explore the region. Thirteen itineraries were developed with a summary brochure and an associated detailed blog. A small number of the brochures have been printed and distributed to the visitor centres across the region. The itineraries cover seven destinations and six markets. You can explore them here. If you have any ideas for other itineraries you would like to see us develop let us know.
2023 Caravan and Camping Show
We attended the Caravan and Camping Show in Perth in March. This was the first show post COVID and was very well attended with over 36,000 attendees over the 5 days. We partnered with ASW and shared a stand. We developed a Caravan and Camping brochure specifically for the event. You can find it here.
Wine Journalist Famil
In March we played host to Johan Augustin a Swedish wine journalist. This famil was developed in partnership with the Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association. Johan visited some great wine experiences at Talisman Wines, Green Door Wines, St Aidan Wines, Coughlan Estate and Whicher Ridge. He stayed overnight in Bunbury and we encouraged him to explore the delights of Ferguson Valley, Bunbury and Donnybrook before he headed south to the Margaret River region. Johan was very impressed by the wineries and meeting the passionate owners and wine makers.
Consumer Newsletter
We have also recommenced the consumer e Newsletter which we are aiming to send out quarterly. You can sign up to it here.
Website Review
Finally, we are currently undertaking a review of the visitbunburygeographe website. It has served us well since its launch in 2018 but is ready for a refresh. We will keep you posted as we progress.
Visitor Centre Changes
The staff at the Bunbury visitor centre have been very busy this last month relocating to two new locations in the city centre. A new information desk can be found at the Dolphin Discovery Centre and the Visitor Centre staff have taken over the brochure display which is proving very popular with the site’s visitors. The second site is in the Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre in Arthur Street providing a convenient City centre location for visitors. This is a 12 month trial arrangement.
Latest Visitor Figures
Tourism is starting to make a strong recover with spending exceeding 2019 levels even though visitation figures are still behind 2019 levels.
The Western Australian tourism figures to December 2022 were recently released. International arrivals to WA are sitting at 64% of the pre COVID figures, with forward booking remaining steady. The interstate market has been strong since the borders opened in 2022 and are currently sitting at 91%. Detailed statistics can be found here.
Figures for the South West region is starting to return to pre COVID levels. It is interesting to note that there is still some reluctance among Western Australians to travel overseas and the South West continues to reap the benefits of this. The production of interstate and international visitation figures is still lagging but the overall trends are positive. See more here
Figures at an LGA level are only available for Bunbury and can be found here.
The Bunbury Geographe Tourism Partnership program is tracking well against its 2030 goals. You can see how we are doing here
2023 Perth Airport Tourism Awards Nominations are now open for the 2023 Tourism Awards Business Categories. Nominations are open until 7 June 2023 with final submissions due 10 August. The finalists will be announced at the Finals Fever event 21 September in Perth and the winners will be announced at the Gala Dinner at Crown Perth in November. These awards are one of the best ways to promote your business excellence. Find everything you need to know here.
2023 Perth Airport WA Regional Conference This conference will be held in Kalgoorlie and offers a unique business and professional development opportunity. The program is packed with great speakers and the networking opportunities will be amazing. Registrations close soon so register today so you don’t miss out.
Bunbury Geographe Tourism Partnership
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