Amazing South Coast Tourism leaves behind visitor centres to take digital direction to draw people to region

Amazing South Coast Tourism chief Peter Grigg says his organisation’s move away from visitor centres is a product of the digital evolution of tourism marketing. Mr Grigg said the COVID-19 crisis had driven home the message that tourism promotion needed to keep up with the changing times. The ASC board, which is made up of industry operators and representatives of the City of Albany, Shire of Denmark and Shire of Plantagenet, decided last year that the group would focus more on destination marketing for the region. Included in this change of direction was the decision to give up their operation of the Denmark and Mt Barker visitor centres as of June 30. The board recently extended its operation of the Denmark Visitor Centre until July 31 to keep the centre open during school holidays, but its future after that date remains unclear. For now, the Porongurup Promotions Association is maintaining the Mt Barker Visitor Centre. “The Denmark and Mt Barker visitor centres will operate under different models and that is yet to be determined. There are community consultation processes happening in both those towns this month,” Mr Grigg said. “The ASC has worked since December last year to try to identify likely partners within the two communities. “We have to find a new way of doing business. These days a lot of travellers aren’t utilising the services other than what they find on their phone. “We still have a lot of people that want a face-to-face across the counter, and it is not about taking that away from them, it is about a different way of doing that business. “Once upon a time, one of the major revenue spaces for visitor centres was booking platforms, but look at all the options we have now — Booking.com, Trivago, Wotif.” Mr Grigg said ASC’s marketing campaign was set in four parts, following the seasons: wildflowers in spring, beaches and family time in summer, food and events in autumn, and whale and winter warmers in winter. Though it had been a tough few months for regional tourism, he said things were looking up and the region had a lot in its favour. “If our operators are hurting, then our region is hurting and the membership base is hurting,” he said. “COVID-19 has had an impact and probably drives home the message that things will be done differently from now on and we need to look at how we do that.”