Confusion in the community between the corporate branding of MidCoast Council and the tourism branding, otherwise known as Destination Management Planning, was a message council took home from the recent Tourism Forum.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
About 40 people attended the Tourism Forum initiated by Taree Business Chamber and held in cooperation with MidCoast Council on May 10.
Jeremy Thornton, president of the Taree Business Chamber, introduced the forum while MidCoast Council’s director community spaces and services Paul de Szell and manager growth, economic development and tourism Deb Tuckerman provided an overview and background to the issues discussed at the meeting.
In the meeting notes the response to the confusion of the two branding issues from MidCoast Council was that, “It should be noted that the name ‘MidCoast Council' and associated corporate logo will not be driving the marketing of the area from a destination/tourism point of view. How to market the area to visitors is part of the Destination Management Plan (DMP) currently under development.”
Jeremy Thornton said at this stage there is no change to the ‘Manning Valley … naturally’ tourism branding, and that council is still actively promoting the brand.
Another subject to arise was the perception that the DMP was being ‘pushed through’ before the council elections in September 2017.
“The process for developing a new DMP has been underway for some time. Great Lakes was in the process of completing a new DMP at the time a new merger was announced. The project was put on hold and a decision was made in September 2016 to extend the brief to include the whole of the MidCoast Council area,” was the response in the meeting notes.
The DMP is estimated to be finalised between three to six months.