Visitors centre to remain with Denmark Chamber of Commerce for next three years

The Denmark Chamber of Commerce will be in control of the town’s visitor centre for the next three years after Shire of Denmark councillors voted in unanimous support of an agreement on Tuesday. And, in a double-win for the DCC, control of Great Southern Tourism Events — which includes Taste Great Southern — has also been turned over to the chamber after the collapse of Amazing South Coast Tourism in July. Citing a move to digital marketing, Amazing South Coast pulled out of managing the Denmark Visitor Centre in June last year. The move was set to lead to the closure of the visitor centre on June 30. Amid the fallout, the DCC submitted a proposal to the Shire titled “Temporary Emergency Visitor Service from the Denmark Visitor Centre” in November 2020. Temporary control of the visitor centre was then granted to the DCC in December. But with the future of the visitor centre model unclear at that time, more community consultation was undertaken as part of the Shire’s development of a future tourism strategy, which was also adopted at last night’s meeting. More than 300 people were surveyed with nearly 80 per cent ranking the visitor centre as “important” or “very important”. Now, following the successful delivery of tourism services by the DCC over the past 11/2 years, the chamber has been awarded a three-year agreement to operate from the centre. The agreement endorsed at Tuesday’s council meeting includes $95,000 in operational funding for the chamber this financial year. “We’ve had a long journey, more than a 12-month journey about having something that’s in bricks and mortar and face-to-face visitor servicing,” Shire chief executive David Schober said after the meeting. “There’s been all sorts of commentary around and it’s such a divisive and controversial issue in many ways so it gives us the ability to push the reset button, I think. “The chamber have said they’ll open it as part of a multi-pronged approach to contemporary tourism service delivery. “It’s a great outcome, I think, both for the chamber and for the community to be able to continue to operate the Denmark Visitor Centre.” Meanwhile, control of events and platforms previously run by Great Southern Tourism Events has also transitioned to the DCC. Those events include well-known drawcards like Taste Great Southern and the intellectual property Discover Denmark. Control of the Bookeasy platform has also been transferred, meaning commissions gained from tourism bookings through the platform will go to the DCC. Chamber chief executive Sumer Addy said the DCC had a chance to rebuild a once-strong brand. “These are very exciting times for Denmark, the chamber and our members,” she said. “As a membership organisation and community, we now have the ability to rebuild a once-strong local identity and brand. “The chamber looks forward to using these tourism assets for the good of Denmark and is excited to play a larger role on a regional level with Taste Great Southern.”