Community feedback at heart of new Sustainable Visitation Strategy

Published on 08 August 2019

Work on Byron Shire’s 10 year plan for sustainable tourism is full steam ahead with staff drafting the Sustainable Visitation Strategy (SVS).

“Over the last six months we have hosted a raft of visitor forums, kitchen table discussions, industry meetings and a community solutions panel and now our engagement with the community and industry is complete,” Byron Shire Mayor Simon Richardson said.

“The engagement phase was a great success and we are really pleased with the breadth and quality of feedback received from the community and our panel, and now staff are getting on with the task of drafting our first Sustainable Visitation Strategy for Byron Shire.

“Our community was passionate about this topic and we thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to complete a survey and take part in a discussion or forum.

“The popularity of Byron Shire as a tourist destination has placed strains on the Shire’s infrastructure and services and this has proven to be a major concern to our community and something they wanted to have a say about.

“We have been buoyed by the solution and ideas focus of the engagement – which was partly due to the way the kitchen table discussions were designed but also because people had lots of creative and helpful ideas, which we look forward to presenting through the strategy,” he said.

Around 1200 surveys were completed and a summary of this information was provided to the Community Solutions Panel of 26 randomly selected Byron Shire residents and ratepayers who then spent 3 days deliberating on the question: what actions can Council take to align visitor behaviour with community values?

“This additional process gives an extra layer of independence to the outcome.  It ensures that as a Council we are approaching this fairly, from the community’s perspective, that we can be confident that our strategy reflects what the community is genuinely concerned about and where they see solutions,” Mayor Richardson said.

The Community Solutions Panel was provided with a briefing book containing facts and figures on tourism in the Shire and also summarised the community’s feedback from the 1,200 kitchen table responses received.  The panel prepared a list of recommendations based on these findings to be considered in the development of the new strategy.

A Sustainable Visitation Strategy ensures that the environment and the culture of an area is considered during the development of the strategy, as well as the economic factors. It’s a framework of 41 criteria managed by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) that drives global sustainable destination, travel and tourism standards and accreditation.

The draft Sustainable Visitation Strategy will be considered by Council at its December 2019 meeting and the strategy will go on public exhibition in February 2020.

For more information see Council’s website or contact Council’s Tourism Officers, Sarah Workman or Lisa Richards on 6626 7170.

Pictured: members of the Sustainable Visitation Strategy Community Solutions Panel