The Yarra Ranges’ diverse tourism industry came together on Wednesday 4 June for the annual Yarra Ranges Tourism Summit.
Despite a ‘tough year’ for the industry, many representatives of local businesses attended the event at the RACV Country Club and Resort in Healesville for the chance to get ideas, network and prepare for the year ahead.
Yarra Ranges Tourism chief executive Simon O’Callaghan said it was an outstanding patronage at the summit.
“This is an event that’s become a real staple of the tourism industry calendar for the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges and I think the turnout today really emulates what we’re all about,” he said.
“We’re about working together and working as a collective to essentially help support local jobs and local businesses,”
“The theme today ‘Beyond Breakeven’ was very much about giving people some tools that they can take away to their business that they can implement now, no matter what their circumstances they find themselves in, we want them to go away with a little tool bag of ideas, inspiration and hopefully actionable outcomes that can help with their profitability.”
Having grown from a smaller event, the Yarra Ranges Tourism Summit is now a full-day event, starting at 9.30am, filled with guest speakers and a rundown from Yarra Ranges Tourism representatives and with catered morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
Despite the tough conditions facing tourism businesses in the last year with the high cost of living causing potential visitors to tighten their purse strings, Mr O’Callaghan said they are still seeing a ‘collegiate’ spirit and there is room for optimism.
“When trade is soft, people have to continue to innovate and continue to find new ways to inspire the visitor to come, there’s an old saying that ‘the harder you work, the luckier you get’and I think we see lots of examples of that across the region,” he said.
“We’re seeing some new announcements of new products that are going to be opening in the future like Burnham Beeches, that’ll be a really important product and hotel for the Dandenong Ranges in particular,”
“We’ve got the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination that’s coming online in the next month, there’s a lot of long-term projects that are also going to open and coming to fruition which are going to help every small business in the region.”
After a Welcome and Welcome to Country, Yarra Ranges Tourism Chair Leigh Harry gave an update, followed by a presentation by Professor Arnold Dix who spoke about the place the mindset engineering could play in helping tourism operators.
After morning tea, Tourism Australia’s Kristy Malapa gave an update on their work, 2023 Lynette Bergin Tourism Excellence Award winner Maddy Sawyer presented on the merits of Community Centric Tourism Development before Mr O’Callaghan and Euan McDonald-Madden of Yarra Ranges Tourism showcased where and how travellers to the Yarra Ranges are booking, with a particular focus on social media, AI and other digital transformation are driving visitor numbers.
Yarra Ranges Tourism also presented Leanne De Bertoli of De Bortoli Wines and Valerie Campbell-Wemyss and Jeremy Francis from CloudeHill Garden and Nursery each with an award recognising their contributions to the local tourism industry.
Mr O’Callaghan said he thinks in any business you’ve got to stop and celebrate your successes.
“In a small way today we’ve recognised three individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the region and we hope that their contribution inspires others to be like them,” he said.
“They’ve been there in the trenches supporting other colleagues, supporting young people, supporting jobs and that matters to communities, and that’s why the tourism industry is important to this region, it supports the community.”
A provision for the Victorian Minister for Tourism Steve Dimopoulos was left but he was unable to attend, though Shadow Minister for Tourism Sam Groth did attend in the morning.
After lunch, Alva Hemming and a panel from Go Beyond Melbourne put a spotlight on some tourism success stories from across their regions (Phillip Island, Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges and Geelong and The Bellarine) followed by regional tourism consultant Karen Oliver who focused on the importance of creating high-value visitor experiences.
The day was concluded by entrepreneur and small business mentor Amanda Rose sharing some stories of success when businesses collaborate and a Q and A.
Mr O’Callaghan said it is a great thing to be in business and everyone who’s in small business needs a medal of their own because it’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding.
“When you work in regional Victoria, you don’t always get the luxury to spend educating and
inspiring yourself to remain fresh and relevant in your own business,” he said.
“What we hope to do with the summit is bring everyone into that one location where they can feed off the energy in the room,”
“We try and bring a diverse range of speakers who can really give them some lessons to apply in their own businesses and ultimately we want them to go away and just be energised about being in business.”
