What can we do to get the Byron economy back on track?
With many local business owners and operators battling hard to stay in the black, Byron Council has released a draft business, industry and visitor strategy outlining what it can do to help.
A key step in the process, according to the report, will be attracting more of the right kind of visitors to the area – those wanting to embrace our unique culture and values, and willing to spend a few dollars along the way.
The visitor economy
‘For the visitor economy, it is important to project key visitor experiences to the types of visitors that the destination seeks to embrace,’ the report’s authors state.
‘By doing so visitors that align with the community’s principles will be attracted to the region.’
But how do we do this?
Council has proposed a range of measures, most of them focused on supporting and promoting events and activities that will attract people to town and keep them here long enough to share some of their hard-earned with the rest of us.
This includes coordinating a calendar of small, medium, and large events that span the entire year. At the small end of this scale will be art exhibitions and craft events held in the shire’s local halls, while the large end could feature more festivals that make use of our parks and showgrounds.
Building on the cultural theme, the Council is also proposing the development of a local Aboriginal cultural centre. This part of a broader push to encourage greater levels of inclusive and accessible tourism.
These measures will seek to bring visitors to the shire’s key coastal locations and to the smaller towns and villages.
‘Celebrating the towns and villages across the Shire is important to retain the local, unique character that each place offers and by default that our region offers,’ the authors of the report state.
Unique culture
‘Through embracing these features, the character can be retained, protecting the unique Byron culture.’
Council will conduct a series of forums and meetings with industry and stakeholders. They may well come up with a new brand identity for the Shire.
The area has arguably suffered greatly from the influencer-led, body-image obsessed portrayal of the Shire in recent years, with some suggesting it has led people to see the area as ‘not for normal people like me’.
Should the draft strategy be adopted at this week’s Council meeting it will be put out for public submissions within the next month, before adoption later in the year.
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