Praise for chivalrous act
We would like to say a big thank you to the young man from Long Gully.
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He too had been waiting for a taxi after our train arrived from Melbourne at approximately 12.15am.
After visiting his children in Melbourne he, like us, would have been tired and ready for bed, but he gave up his taxi for us to get home (after 1am).
We hope his wait for the next one wasn’t too long, but I want him to know it was appreciated greatly by a couple of senior citizens.
Brenda and Ken Preston, Strathdale
Bendigo’s tourism sector must undergo an external audit
Disorder best describes the Bendigo region’s tourism information – Mount Alexander, Central Goldfields, Loddon Shires and Greater Bendigo.
Visit Victoria’s CEO Peter Bingeman claimed: "In the Bendigo Goldfields region alone tourism accounts for 9.5 per cent of gross regional product and supports 10.4 per cent of all jobs" (“Boosting regional tourism”, Bendigo Advertiser, March 18).
Why then does Bendigo Regional Tourism’s ‘Destination Management Plan’ state: “The tourism sector in Bendigo Region generates $443.26 million per annum in direct output, 3.22 per cent of total direct output ... There are 2749 tourism sector jobs in the Bendigo Region, accounting for 5.5 per cent of total employment”?
The differences in job and economic data are huge.
Visit Victoria believes 5200 workers; BRT decides 2749 workers. That’s a difference of 2451 jobs with wages worth $150 million.
Worse, our council’s ‘2050 Plan Bendigo’ stumps up 3863 jobs just for Greater Bendigo. Three different figures. What a jumble.
Visit Victoria’s CEO states tourism accounts for 9.5 per cent “gross regional product” equating to about $740 million. Converting BRT’s $443.26 million economic “output” into “gross regional product” gives $222 million. A $500-plus million whopping difference.
Based on wobbly information, our council spends a disproportionate $15 million annually on tourism-related actions, approximately $270 per rate notice, even from the poor.
Tourism manager Kathryn Mackenzie proudly boasted Bendigo won some tourism awards, and was “riding the waves” (“Tourism CEO outlines plan for Bendigo”, Bendigo Advertiser, March 18).
Wonderful marketing spin.
Hidden below those “waves” are anomalies, elastic data, and numerous sand-bars like poor cost-benefit outcomes for residents.
Council’s website shows, between 2005 and 2015, worker productivity in Bendigo’s tourism dependent accommodation and food services sector dropped from $44,068 per worker to $38,636; you won’t find council reporting that.
Councillors, government, Bendigo Tourism, and the media generally accept the sprinkles they are fed.
Even failure is served as a winner. Why is it so; incompetence, negligence or simply overwhelmed?
Part of the problem is council does not deep-mine its own data or tell us facts like those above because it hurts.
Like-minded nice publicly funded administrators and special interests hold “roundtable discussions”, decide how to spend our money, set no targets, and then feed us frog dust.
Council’s independent review saw the need for improved transparency in performance and reporting.
Tourism must be externally audited. It is a good industry but it needs to wake up.
Ted Coleman, Strathfieldsaye
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