YARRA RANGES TOURISM We market and sell the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges to the visitor, driving economic growth. CEO REPORT October 2020

1 CEO REPORT

HIGHLIGHTS October 2020

● Minister for Tourism Business Roundtable ● State Roundtables ● Spring Garden Party delivers positive program of certainty, massive views, brand awareness and travel consideration ● Free 2020/21 ATDW subscription offer sign up extended to Dec 31 ● $11M Click for Vic campaign supports online growth in The Regional Pantry sales ● New Digital Visitor Information Kiosks on their way for Diamond Creek Adventure Playground, Puffing Billy Discovery Centre and Hurstbridge

On The Horizon

● Continued Advocacy to get industry open in a safe way that is viable ● Importance of business support for mental health and mentoring ● Regional Pantry Online Christmas packs curation with Industry ● State Budget - Nov

2 KEY STRATEGY AREA: TOURISM CRISIS RESPONSE & RECOVERY MANAGE IMMEDIATE ACTIONS AND PLAN RECOVERY FOR COVID-19

1. Establish Special Sub Committee of Board to take a leadership role 2. Assess direct and indirect economic impacts to local business & employment and advocate to Government for appropriate support and funding 3. Keep up to date with latest updates 4. Communicate to Industry key information relating to the crisis 5. Identify key stimulus strategies when safe to do so and plan for recovery of region

The Tourism Crisis Response and Recovery Sub Committee of the Board continues to address the issues and actions at hand to deal with COVID-19 continues and has met weekly from March to July and fortnightly since then.

Communication to and from industry remains on of our top priorities, as the peak leadership organisation for the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges tourism region during the COVID-19 crisis. This has been greatly supported by the openness of business to share the specific details impacting their businesses.

Two significant advocacy Industry Roundtable sessions have taken place with: ● The Hon. Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events The Hon Martin Pakula and Government colleagues, The Hon. Deputy Premier and Member for Monbulk, Member for Yan Yean, Member for Eltham. A copy of the Round Table can be viewed here. ● The Hon. Shadow Minister for Tourism, Sport & Major Events, Cindy McLeish Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and Member for Eildon, The Hon. Ryan Smith Member for Warrandyte, Member for Gembrook, Member for Evelyn. A copy of the Round Table can be viewed here.

A detailed list of issues raised by the a selection of Industry Leaders who participated in our recent CEO Roundtables was prepared with Industry asking questions of our representatives to ensure they were fully aware of the pain points being experienced on the ground by business. As follows:

3 Industry Feedback Summary Business support still urgently needed to keep industry afloat

● The key support business requires is cash. What additional support programs are being considered by the Government to support tourism regions forced to close for longer periods with more stringent restrictions in the Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges and Mornington Peninsula. This region is not classified as Regional yet is further away from the CBD in parts than Geelong and Macedon Ranges. It is just not a level playing field for our tourism regions. ● JobKeeper has been great for workers but not so good for Business Owners who are footing the bill of the administration of the scheme. Overall it is keeping people afloat, if the State Government’s Business Support Fund was consistent in its frequency this would make a huge difference. Implementing a regular State Business Payment or Utility support payment would bridge the gap of Jobkeeper in the Tourism Industry is desperately needed. We need to identify a way to keep business afloat over the next three months so the region does not loose key products and experiences, ensuring that business will actually be there to deliver an economic recovery. ● While grateful for programs like the Business Support Fund, much of this support has gone straight back out to pay state government licences, workcover (when our people aren’t even at work), fees and taxes or local government rates. While we remain unable to trade. ● Overall, the progress of Government and its Departments has been slow to respond when announcements are made. The tourism industry has been the one of the first industries impacted and will likely be the last to recover, there just seems to be a lack of urgency while business are withering on the vine. ● The Accommodation Support package seemed to be an example of something that could have benefited a lot of businesses but missed whole areas of of our visitor economy. There was no support for tour and transport operators, school camps or attrations who equally lost all of their bookings. The Government needs an improved understanding of the breadth and depth of sectors working within the Visitor Economy as it develops these programs.

Hospitality, Tours, Events & Weddings

● The challenge of social distancing requirements leaves many businesses unviable. Will the Government work directly with some segments of the tourism industry to create site specific protocols. Eg, Puffing Billy, Healesville Sanctuary, Rochford Winery Concerts, large hospitality and wedding venues with outdoor spaces to apply sensible number capacities as has occurred in other States? No one want to do this in an unsafe manner. ● The Outdoor Dining & Entertainment Package will help us to provide new spaces outdoors but it won’t help to yield a break even product to the visitor with current caps on density quotients.

4 Industry Feedback Summary ● Density quotient need a sensible approach and revision to create viable tourism products for recovery: ○ One person per 4 sq/m rule ○ 10 people per indoor venue, not taking into considering the size or capacity of the venue, Eg a venue with indoor capacity of 300 can only have 10 people. ○ A cap of 50 people per outdoor dining venue, again not taking into consideration the size or capacity of the space to segment people. ● Cellar doors are not considered as an indoor space, after lockdown 1.0 we were told by the Government wine tasting had to be free and at a sit down table, can this also be reviewed to be more practical. The Yarra Valley largely charges for tastings under normal condition how can the Government tell us this now has to be free? What is proposed post lockdown 2.0. ● What is the Government’s strategy to stimulate the regional events industry? This segment is critically important and relies on many volunteer organisations who are walking away from the challenges of putting on these activities. Greater support is needed through the Regional Events Fund, which expired at June 2020.

Tours and Transport

● Transport Sector in relation to buses not being permitted to operate given the 'Enclosed Space’ ruling. Public Transport is okay but restricted for private operators carrying tour patrons. ● The taxi industry has an exemption to this rule and can carry up to 10 passengers in a maxi taxi, but tour buses of a similar nature are unable to Operate. ● Household family bubbles must be reconsidered to count as ‘one’ within the ● group of 10 allowed within tour and transport guidelines. ○ Hot air balloons and tour buses should be able to operate

Utilities Fixed Costs

● With the majority of businesses unable to open a viable product many have been crippled by Power and Gas contracts. Particularly those on fixed monthly charges. It is costing some businesses as much to remain closed due to so many fixed overheads. Can the Government negotiate with the energy sector about this issue? As was achieved with the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme.

5 Industry Feedback Summary Insurance

● Many businesses are continuing to be impacted by the State Governments Bushfire Management Overlay. Since this was recently tightened and is impacting a further 200,000+ properties across the state, securing building and business insurance is becoming increasingly cost prohibitive or unviable due to the conditions of partial cover only. Businesses may have never had a claim and yet can only get partial insurance. This is close to market failure, would the Government consider a State sponsored scheme to address this issue, like it did with the Fire Services Levy?

Business Events & Conferencing

● Will the Government support bringing more of its Departments to regional locations for the coming period when restrictions are eased to support the Regional Business Events market which is critical to driving mid-week trade and employment of the region. Programs such as a the conferencing and business events pledge on the back of last Summer’s bushfires was a terrific example.

Regional Tourism Review

● A lot of work, resource and ideas were contributed, the delays of this State Government led work have been an unnecessary distraction. Delaying Local Government support and providing industry with little confidence about the Government's long term support of regional tourism organisations. When will this proposed roadmap be released so we can reach an agreed approach between industry and government that is transparent.

Skilled Workforce

● 482 Visa Temporary skill shortage workers are critical to the tourism industry’s sustainability but have not received any support from Government programs, leaving many Tourism operators carrying the responsibility of helping these important employees to ensure they will be part of our recovery solution. ● How can the Government support the growth and skills of the tourism labour force, given under business as usual one of the largest impediments to further growth is access to a skilled and reliable workforce.

Registrations

● The cost of maintain vehicle registrations for large fleet continues to be a major issues. The cost of deregistering given the uncertainty of the environment, has not been an option due to the process and time it takes to re-register vehicles. 6 Industry Feedback Summary

Marketing and Promotion

● The region has strong support for a Regional Travel Voucher Incentive Scheme as has worked successful in other states such as Tasmania and Northern Territory, to promote minimum stays of 2-3 nights and/or tour bookings. It will create forward confidence for business. ● Business confidence and marketing support is going to be critical. Businesses have done a lot of heavy lifting over decades investing significant dollars to promote the region and interstate and internationally are financially back to square one and will take years to catch up the deferred payments that have been accumulated. What support is the Government considering to ensure that we can be suitably supported with marketing and mission costs until we recover fully to ensure we again attract interstate and international visitors. ● As we move into recovery anything the Government can do to promote booking direct would be welcomed by industry.

Best Practice Lessons from Interstate

● Other states of Australia have been successful in reopening in their economies in a safe way, and these lessons need to be taken into consideration in Victoria. ● Several areas of private sector in Victoria (eg, SmartBadge) have also identified innovative ways to track and trace employee and patron movements. In addition to enhancing testing regimes for staff on a regular basis to ensure that their workplaces are safe and COVID free. ● Will the government consider implementing these practical strategies that provide a proven pathway to reopening? The sooner these can be adopted the better so that the Tourism Industry has enough time to implement them effectively and visitor education can also begin on the new way of experiencing attractions. ● The Tourism Industry needs dedicated attention from qualified DHHS personnel to work with our businesses to develop safe plans for reopening. As has proactively happened in other states. A one size fits all approach simply leaves too many businesses falling through the cracks with no certainty on when they might get back to operating in a viable manner, while Government subsidy is wound back and other State continue to have a trading advantage to Victoria and especially tourism regions like the yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges caught in the Metro lockdown classification.

7 Industry Feedback Summary

Major Tourism Infrastructure Support

● The Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges remains at a competitive disadvantage to other regional destinations due to our classification at Metro Melbourne, therefore missing out on valuable support through funds such as a Regional Development Victoria. How can this be addressed? ● The region has identified three key shovel ready projects to promote an active recovery and legacy visitation to our tourism region, with positive impacts on local job creation: ○ Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden Rebuild of the 2013 Chelsea Best in Show Garden (requires $2.83M) ○ Yarra Valley Trail - northern loop (requires $3.35M) ○ Raptor Rehabilitation Experience & Facility - Healesville Sanctuary (requires $1M)

Warburton Mountain Bike Destination

● As a major tourism project that is fully funded ($11.3M) this project has met with significant Government delays that have dramatically changed the timelines and process agreed, that now requires an EES. How can the Government ensure that this game changing project can get more sympathetic attention and support. The current framework for approval has decimated business and investor confidence in a subregion of the Yarra Valley that is in desperate need for job creation stimulus to address issues of generational disadvantage.

8 Tourism Crisis Response & Recovery cont’d

INDUSTRY SURVEY

A survey to Partners was conducted in September to gage industry sentiment following the extension of Stage 4 restrictions. The survey was split into Attractions/ Activities (60 respondents) and Accommodation (32 respondents), with responses providing some additional ground truthing to strengthen our business case in advocating for relief. Respondents were also invited to share any other comments experiences or suggestions on relief and recovery they would like us to raise on their behalf.

Questions in both surveys included: ● Location area Yarra Valley or Dandenong Ranges ● Type of business (style of accommodation) ● Government relief eligibility ● Impact on business % ● Impact on employees ● Business confidence and estimated time of recovery

On the question of business confidence and recovery, attraction and activities tourism operators said they expected their business to be trading in comparison with FY 2019 by ● 1 January 2021- 46% ● 1 July 2021- 67% ● 1 January -80%

On the question of business confidence and recovery 32 accommodation operators said they expected their business to be trading in comparison with FY 2019 by ● 1 January 2021- 56% ● 1 July 2021- 66% ● 1 January -87%

9 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING Increase Visitor Numbers, Length of Stay and Spend

1. Engage 2. Listen 3. Respond

A MODULAR APPROACH TO CAMPAIGN MESSAGING

Yarra Ranges Tourism is maintaining a modular approach to all of our campaign roll outs over the next twelve months. The messaging will be positioned for:

1. Lockdown 2. Partial Lockdown 3. Free Trade (observing new Government guidelines)

Yarra Ranges Tourism created a Yarra Valley Garden Party experience six pack to sell via the Regional Pantry. Our marketing team also pulled together an online weekend event. (more on this in the next few pages) The YVGP is a great example of achieving broader regional uplift and reach during challenging times. The digital events were delivered via FaceBook and now sit on You Tube and are linked back to our webpage. Our collaboration with Visit Victoria was a significant part of our success in terms of reach and earned media.

There’s a new Top Trail + Road Trip being developed for Warburton Highway - Wander To Warburton.

This Top Trail will be released with; itineraries, an experience pack and digital activations on the first weekend in December

10 11 Garden Party Campaign to run 14 September- 31 November 2020

Garden Party Campaign - includes a mixed spring 6 pack sold with: ● A Spotify Playlist for a party or a Road Trip that has access via QR code ● Recipes for a garden party consisting of 6 canapes matched to each wine curated and written by A Bit of Jam & Pickle ● High quality printed itinerary for “Most Instagrammable Gardens” ● Copy of Cool Climate Gardens Top Trail ● Diggers Club seeds to plant your own Sweet Peas ● Tesselaar Tulips being sent in January as a second touchpoint ● Recipes from participating wineries on the website

Influencers and media have picked up on this story and both our earned and purchased media have been successful in driving awareness and sales.

Time Out In link HERE

12 Garden Party Weekend 2 - 4 2020 ● Total Video views 1 Oct - 8 Oct 2020 = 184.4K views ● Total minutes of video watched = 87.2K ● Organic views = 80.6%

For Context: 2019 Calendar Year Views: 23.6K at 56.9% organic 2018 Calendar Year Views: 86.9K at 45.6% organic

1 Oct - 8 Oct 2020

Garden Party weekend featured on Nine News - Click link HERE 13 Broadsheet Article - Mac Forbes - October 2020 - Earned Media / Partnership with Visit Vic

Click HERE to view

Broadsheet Article - Yarra Valley Chocolaterie - October 2020 - Earned Media / Partnership with Visit Vic

Click HERE to view

14 Click For Vic - Herald Sun insert - October 2020 - Earned Media / Partnership with Visit Vic

We achieved the front cover:

15 Click For Vic - Herald Sun insert - October 2020 - Earned Media / Partnership with Visit Vic continued

Mentions in the What’s On for: ● Hop It At Home ● Gertrude Opera ● The Regional Pantry + Garden Party ● Healesville Music Festival ● Watts River Brewing

Rochford in the: 5 Perfect Hampers list

16 Story elements were also online:

17 COVID RECOVERY INTERIM PLAN OCTOBER - DECEMBER

STAGE 4 and STAGE 3 ● Day to day we are keeping the Yarra Valley & Dandenong Ranges front-of-mind with UGC ● Adapting a hybrid marketing product that lives online and in real life - no one (esp. International) are missing out on seeing the region during these times ● Focus on online/social media opportunities ● Producing content specific to our needs and reflective of our ‘new normal’ (eg. face masks worn in content, outdoors, captions to include covid-plans etc) ● Huge focus on millennial, very social Melbourne within our messaging and content Target Audience: ● Local to broader Yarra Valley & Dandenong Ranges ● Metro Melbourne ● Other regions ● Intrastate (Restriction dependant) ● Young travellers who in the past travel internationally

Message: ● Yarra Valley at Home, Dandenong Ranges at Home ● Support local - Shop local - Regional Pantry ● Picnic here (restrictions pending), platter at home (at-home, date night, Melbourne Cup) ● Welcome Back - we’ve missed you (for when restrictions are lifted and travel is allowed)

Message drivers: ● Road Trips ● Nature ● Food & Wine ● Makers & Creators ● Walks, Rides, Runs - Fitness based messaging

Activities: ● Active messaging on Yarra Ranges Tourism social media channels ● Active messaging on Digital Screens ● Engaging Influencers through lockdown and as we come out of lockdown ● Video content and live streams (Example: Yarra Valley Garden Party) ● Participating in upcoming Visit Victoria co-op (pending VV delivery - looking like Nov) ● Jumping on social media trends (Example: Fleetwood Mac Challenge) Example Social Media Activations:

18 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING

OFF PEAK WEDDINGS

The Off Peak Weddings spring edition was released in the first half of September.

The website is proving to be a popular tool for our partners to utilise and attract broader wedding business.

We currently have more than 60 partners listed on the site, exceeding our target of 50 for this financial year.

● 2 blogs were published on website 32 Instagram posts 32 Facebook posts

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY ● Creating engagements in sharing branded memes. ● Having the blog content social-worthy - writing adapted from the magazine to relate to this audience. ● Competition and collaboration; We have collaborated with The High Tea Mistress in providing a prize in order to get people to like, follow and comment to win. Aim is to increase following. It’s slow but has been picking up every week. ● Instagram takeovers with partners has been successful, there are more lined up to takeover. ● Scouting potential partners with big following to promote OPW. ● Engagement through comments/stories/tags on non-partner posts is proving to gain following from those businesses. We are luring them to our page in the hopes that they will join as a partner in the future.

SUMMER/AUTUMN DIRECTION ● Adapting to the times with restriction-friendly based articles. These will highlight how our partners have adapted to the times and offered a space for these types of weddings. ● Speaking to newly engaged couples who are starting their journey/research into weddings. Paid ads to lure them over to OPW channels. ● Showcasing key-trends for outdoor weddings/receptions. ● Listicles for socials. Example; 10 beautiful locations to elope in the Yarra Valley.

Website Numbers AUG/SEPT 2020

Users 1,089

Page Views 3,086

OffPeakWeddings.com.au Magazine 135 Downloads Outbound links to 118 partners Mail enquiries 1

19 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING

DIGITAL MARKETING: FACEBOOK

Visit Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Facebook Page 2 Month Review (August/September 2020) (stats updated 5/10/2020)

Facebook Page Likes – 62,367

Total Engaged Users – 70,508 The number of users that clicked or interacted with content posted on our Facebook Page.

Total Reach – 323,170 Total number of people that have had our content appear on their Facebook Feed.

Total Impressions – 1,191,136 Total number of times content appeared on someone’s Facebook Feed.

Posts that received the highest user engagement:

20 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING

DIGITAL MARKETING: WEBSITES

Over August/September 2020, total visitors to our consumer facing websites decreased an average of 68% and page views decreased an average of 80% over the same period last year. This is owing to the global enforced lock downs for the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and international/domestic travel shutdowns which resulted in visitors not coming into the regions. (stats updated 5/10/2020)

2 Month Review (August/September 2020) Consumer Websites Aug/Sep19 Aug/Sep20 % Change

Users 78,602 20,683 -73% VisitDandenongRanges.com.au Page Views 249,399 48,171 -80% Users 119,249 49,794 -58% VisitYarraValley.com.au Page Views 412,296 129,166 -68% Users 954 238 -75% VisitYarraValley.cn Page Views 3,975 272 -93%

21 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING

DIGITAL MARKETING: INSTAGRAM

Number of Number of Image Total Posts Followers Reach Engagement

Yarra Valley 1,926 37,267 246,586 24,876 (-20.5%) (-33.7%)

Dandenong Ranges 647 12,620 75,593 9,391 (-58.5%) (-64.4%)

*percentages denote Year on Year change from August/September 2019 to August/September 2020. (stats updated 5/10/2020)

Posts with most engagement over August/September 2020:

22 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING

DIGITAL MARKETING: BLOG CONTENT

In total, blogs received 33,149 views between August/September 2020 across the Visit Dandenong Ranges and Visit Yarra Valley sites which represents a 46% decrease YOY (61,733 views August/September 2019) (stats updated 5/10/2020)

Top 5 most visited Yarra Valley blogs: - guide to fathers day at home in 2020 (9,527 views) - home delivery and takeaway meals and wine (6,514 views) - the worlds best anzac biscuit recipe (2,578 views) - fruits in season in the yarra valley (1,034 views) - online shopping bringing the yarra valley to your doorstep (857 views)

Top 5 most visited Dandenong Ranges blogs: - where to experience cherry blossom season and other bountiful blossoms (994 views) - must see gardens dandenong ranges national park (663 views) - bushwalking tracks in the dandenong ranges (633 views) - top cycling climbs in melbourne (417 views) - dog friendly cafes trails (206 views)

23 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING

BUSINESS EVENTS

Program Update

The Business Events group has 24 partners that are active in attracting conference and events to the region. The website yarravalleybusinessevents.com.au was revamped in July and blogs are being contributed monthly. In February 2020 the group had a full booth at AIME (Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event) in Melbourne, conducting over 60 individual appointments and hosting a post famil into the region. The key aim is to generate lead opportunities for our partners.

24 KEY STRATEGY AREA: MARKETING

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM

The 42 International Ready Partners carried over from 2019/20 have been re-evaluating their their experiences to tailor to the domestic market. During this time Tourism Australia has been hosting a series of International market briefings and ATEC has been running Road to Recovery tourism tutorials.

Upcoming Trade Shows.

Virtual trade shows are now taking place of face to face encounters traditionally held onshore and overseas in market each year. A refresh of itineraries for each market is being prepared.

1. Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC ) - Meeting Place November 2020

2. Tourism Australia Major Events: ● Marketplace North America -represented by GBM ● Marketplace UK Europe -represented by GMB ● Marketplace China - Represented by YRT who will engage a chinese language speaker to assist with 1:1 appointments.

Go Beyond Melbourne Touring Route

Promoting the touring route to the domestic market. As a result of the closure of borders to international visitors, Go Beyond Melbourne is now also targeting the domestic market. GBM has been assisting Australia & Beyond Holidays and APTC recently as they refine product offerings for this new market. Recently, GBM also presented at an online event targeting Virtuoso agents based in Australia who are now pitching luxury travel to the domestic market. At the same time, GBM is working with operators from all four participating regions to design priced cooperative packages which target domestic consumers and will be promoted via a new feature on the GBM website.

Promoting the touring route to the international market. Despite border restrictions, there is a groundswell of trade interest in Australia and GBM has conducted various trade events already: · Two events for travel trade based in SE Asia, the last with a focus on road trips, campervans, and glamping. · One event for the travel trade based in North America. · One event for Virtuoso agents based in Australia.

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KEY STRATEGY AREA: VISITOR SERVICING & TOURISM EXCELLENCE Developing efficient and effective visitor services

DIGITAL VISITOR INFORMATION KIOSKS

Note: The digital information screens show the web page as part of their rotated content. (updated 5/10/2020)

26 Visitor Servicing and Tourism Excellence Cont’d

Digital Visitor Information Kiosk Stats from 1 August 2019 to 30 September 2020 *Conversions are visitors who stayed longer than 5 minutes ^ Unit moved from Blue Lotus to Rayners and was down for a few days

Walkbys = people within an 80 metre radius Visits = people within a 10 metre radius

Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

Walkbys 121,268 187,92 184,494 248,033 333,285 269,830 275,243 276,338 86,607 114529 184476 148416 130477 218341 (outside 6 traffic)

40,751 115,72 90,328 84,640 88,150 124,427 153,954 121,168 0 0 0 0 54,675 69384 Visits 7 (traffic)

Conversions* 297% 162% 205% 293% 378% 216% 178% 228% 167% 132% 152% 177% 239% 314%

Total Screen 7,644 8,145 10,176 10,838 10,322 12,458 11,331 11,525 10,371 10,254 10262 12023 10620 9914 sessions

SMS 96 85 87 53 124 137 88 70 23 17 31 20 10 15 Downloads

The additional Kiosks that were to be installed at Diamond Creek Regional Playground Tram Cafe, Puffing Billy Discovery Centre and Hurstbridge have been delayed owing to restrictions with COVID-19 and obtaining the relevant tradespeople onsite. (updated 5/10/2020)

27 Visitor Servicing and Tourism Excellence Cont’d

(updated 5/10/2020)

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KEY STRATEGY AREA: INDUSTRY AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Actively engage Industry in our activities for the benefit of the region in growing the visitor economy

TRAINING AND WORKSHOPS The recent CEO Round Table discussions with sectors of industry conducted 5-7 August helped to identify training needs.

St Johns Mental Health First Aid Training Sally, Brook and Simon completed this workshop in September. The training focused on identifying mental health issues and potential emergencies, how and where to refer people to, tips for engaging in conversation, mental health in the workplace.

Covid Ready, Safe, Reopen Webinars Accommodation - Wednesday 14 October Non Accommodation- Thursday 22 October (TBC)

Managing Your Database - acquisition and retention With guest presenters: Four Pillars Gin late October (TBC)

LOOKING OUT FOR PARTNERS

The team continue to conduct phone calls checking in on the business activities am wellbeing of our Partners.

● Listen and offer assistance where possible by directing them to specific resources ● Encourage them to update their website and listing on our Visit sites ● Take up the time limited free ATDW listing on visitvictoria.com ● What are they up to: closed (when) hibernating, reshaping, Housekeeping. ● Housekeeping our Partnership Database to ensure Partners are receiving our Weekly newsletter updates ● Reminders of free social media posts extended during stage 4 restrictions. ● Flexible payment terms on Partnerships ● Identifying sales opportunities for Partners to sell on The Regional Pantry and Click for Vic Campaign, ● The CEO Round Table discussions conducted in September and October ● Through our arrangement with Procurement Australia, to identify and promote group buying deals on items of value to the industry such as PPE and utilities.

29 KEY STRATEGY AREA: SUSTAINABLE ORGANISATION

Providing strategic Industry leadership, governance and accountability

Industry Partnerships Yarra Ranges Tourism currently has a total of 416 Partners who have taken up the following packages

● 302 Tourism Partners ● 30 Premium Partners ● 59 Off Peak Weddings Listings ● 21 Trade Partners ● 24 new Partners this financial year

Below is a breakdown of Partners by sector, (Partners may be listed in multiple categories) .

30 KEY STRATEGY AREA: SUSTAINABLE ORGANISATION

Industry Partnership Update 2020/21

Partnership Prospectus

The 2020/21 Partnership Prospectus (digital version) detailing the packages, benefits, marketing opportunities and our recovery plan for regional tourism can be downloaded here: https://yarrarangestourism.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Yarra-Ranges-Tourism-P artnership-Prospectus_2020.pdf

An abridged 4 page (print version) was mailed to Partners in July. This will be the sales document ongoing for prospective Tourism, Trade and Off Peak Wedding Partners.

Partnership renewals

Tourism and Trade Partnerships were automatically renewed with extended payment terms offered as per the board's resolution in April. This has been very well received by industry, many of whom have said they would not be able to continue if the extended payment terms were not offered.

Extended payment terms offered:

● Payment deferral until 31st January 2020 ● Monthly payment by direct debit via Pay Advantage (+ 4% administration fee)

New Partners and Prospects

The effect of COVID-19 has afforded some tourism businesses the time to rethink and re-engage with regional and state tourism bodies. 24 businesses have Partnered this financial year (up to 5 October). Factors influencing this decision include:

● ATDW limited time free listing (see image above) ● The Regional Pantry and Click for Vic online sales platforms ● Collective marketing opportunities through illustrated trails ● Regular weekly communications to Industry ● Marketing activations that are speaking to the industry (FOMO) as well as the consumer. 31 KEY STRATEGY AREA: ADVOCACY Advocacy is a process that challenges inequities by collaboratively and actively working with communities and key stakeholders to bring about change.

To bring about improvements for the Tourism Industry in support for: ● Reliable Utility Infrastructure ● Funding support for key Tourism Infrastructure Projects that will grow the Visitor Economy

Regional Tourism Review

The Minister for Tourism has indicated that the Region Tourism Review is unlikely to be released in its original format, as it was written in a pre-COVD-19 world. Ongoing requests for this information continue for all regions of the state to ensure that this work can communicate transparently and offer closure on the review or set up a conversation for future reform that with appropriately support regional Victoria.

Infrastructure

As part of the Tourism Recovery Framework being worked on a list of top ‘shovel ready’ regional tourism infrastructure projects have been submitted to Government. The identified projects at this point include: ● Yarra Valley Trail - Northern Loop ● Australian Garden re-creation Olinda ● Healesville Sanctuary Raptor Enclosure

Great news that the Diamond Creek Trail extension received $4M in funding from the the Victorian Government to construct Stage 1 of the trail (from Diamond Creek to Wattle Glen). Designs and other approvals are being sought to start construction works in June 2020. Council continues to seek funding for Stage 2 of the project (from Wattle Glen to Hurstbridge).

32 33 KEY DIARY DATES FOR 2020

YARRA RANGES TOURISM EVENTS

All on hold until further notice, unless virtual

34