Yorke Peninsula

Tourism Annual Report 2019-20

18 MAIN STREET , MINLATON • PO BOX 417, KADINA SA • 5554 PHONE: 08 8853 3898 • E M A I L : [email protected] ABN 68 662 055 931

Chairperson’s Report

Craig Costello Tourism Committee

The 2019-2020 financial year got off to a great start for Yorke Peninsula Tourism, but we were then faced with incredible challenges with the Southern Yorke Peninsula fires in November 2019 and then in March 2020 with Covid-19. Covid-19 Restrictions hit and had a huge impact on local businesses, with tourism being one of the hardest hit industries Yorke Peninsula’s traditionally busy Easter break was the quietest we have ever seen. On the other side of the Covid-19 lockdowns Yorke Peninsula businesses have stepped up and we have had the busiest Winter that Yorke Peninsula has experienced during the traditionally quieter months. It certainly has been a roller coaster ride!

Currently tourism contributes $200M to the local economy which is expected to grow to an impressive $359M under the South Australian Visitor Economy Plan 2030 which was completed by the South Australian Tourism Commission. Yorke Peninsula currently enjoys 1.7 million visitor nights in our region which is primarily Intrastate visitations (87%), Interstate visitations (11%) and International visitations (2%). Having a high percentage of Intrastate visitations has seen Yorke Peninsula perform extremely well during Covid- 19 with local Intrastate holidays being the only way South Australians have been able to have a break away.

The last year has been a busy time for our organisation with the below activities taking place throughout the year;

• Continued focus on increasing local Yorke Peninsula product that is bookable online, there has been significant improvement in this area especially for the accommodation sector. Extra focus has now been placed on experiences and events being bookable online. • Welcoming of the first Cruise Ship Vasco Da Gama to Wallaroo on the 7th of December 2019. I had the pleasure of boarding the Cruise ship and it was an amazing moment as well as being a huge milestone for Wallaroo. A very special thank you must go to the Council and the many volunteers that made the ships arrival a huge success. • Welcoming of the second Cruise ship on the 3rd of January 2020 • Completion of the Co-operative marketing project which was the production of video footage by the SA Weekender crew which has enabled us to create short promotional videos for usage on social media as well as a longer video. It has increased Yorke Peninsula’s access to digital content to market the region. • Preparation was made for the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Awards to be held which was unfortunately cancelled due to restrictions placed on events due to Covid-19 • Production and printing of the Yorke Peninsula Visitor Guide and Maps was facilitated and completed • Attended consumer shows to promote and show case Yorke Peninsula • Released Yorke Peninsula Tourism 2020/21 Business Plan

We have had a busy year and all the above listed activities are only a small snapshot of all of the hard work and strategic planning that has been completed over the past year by the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Committee.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend a big thank you to our funding partners being , , and the South Australian Tourism Commission we certainly appreciate their ongoing support. I would also like to thank Deb Clarke for all of her hard work and effort stepping into the Regional Tourism Managers role during Brooke’s parental leave.

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During this time Nicole provided exceptional support in her role and I would like to thank Nicole for her long-term dedication to Yorke Peninsula and the tourism industry. We gave a big welcome back to Brooke in May and it has been great to have Brooke back on board with her wealth of tourism knowledge, local and state-wide industry connections and passion for Yorke Peninsula. Thank you all for your tremendous support to the Committee and our Yorke Peninsula Tourism Industry.

The current Yorke Peninsula Tourism committee have put in a large amount of time as volunteers and are a group of committed individuals who offer different expertise and are all extremely passionate about driving and supporting Tourism on Yorke Peninsula. During the year we said farewell to Cynthia Axford and I would like to acknowledge the important part that Cynthia had as a valued member of the committee. Cynthia regularly added to our discussion and strategic planning and her contribution will be missed – thank you Cynthia for your contribution to the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Industry.

Finally, Jo Bucannon as Deputy Chair has been an incredible support and it has been a pleasure to work with Jo over the last 12 months. Jo provides a wealth of knowledge and advice and is always available for assistance and direction. I value the continued support from Jo as I am sure the committee and staff do as well.

Moving through the Covid-19 era we are all living through history and it has been a time of many challenges but also a time where Yorke Peninsula can shine as a favoured holiday destination for all South Australian’s. We have an opportunity to dramatically increase visitation to the region and our focus needs to be to encourage an increase in visitor expenditure while we have them here. The next 12 months will be a very busy time for Yorke Peninsula with the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Committee and Staff ensuring we make the most of our period of increased visitations for the long-term benefit of our region.

Craig Costello Chair, Yorke Peninsula Tourism

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Special thanks to our Yorke Peninsula Tourism funding partners:

Yorke Peninsula Tourism Annual Report 2019-2020 Page 4 of 10 Tourism Manager’s Report Brooke Liebelt Yorke Peninsula Tourism

The 2019/20 year turned out to be an extremely challenging year for the tourism industry on Yorke Peninsula. With a severe bushfire affecting the south of the region during summer and then a global health pandemic seeing tourism businesses forced to close, we were all operating very much in unprecedented times. However, due to the continual support of our funding partners, Yorke Peninsula, Copper Coast and, Barunga West Councils and the South Australian Tourism Commission, and the members of the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Committee who continue to contribute their valuable time and expertise to the organisation, YPT was able to adapt, diversify and carry-on supporting industry as best as possible.

I never imagined returning after 14 months maternity leave to find a large sector of the tourism industry closed to travellers due to COVID-19. Nonetheless, in the true nature of this industry, I have witnessed nothing but resilience and hard work by businesses getting back up on their feet. Thankfully, the June long weekend delivered an unprecedented number of visitors to the region allowing the industry to recoup some much needed economic spend. It has been pleasing to see this trend of visitation continue over the winter months.

YPT was able to deliver many successful projects throughout 2019/20 including a revamp and technological upgrade of one of our most important assets, www.yorkepeninsula.com.au. Our digital assets remain a major focus of the organisation and will continue to grow as consumer demand for these tools grows over time. Yorke Peninsula Tourism continues to work closely with tourism operators to support their development in the online space.

Good media relationships remain critical and continue to provide great support, helping us achieve an incredible level of free publicity. Limited resources necessitate effective leveraging of every opportunity to gain as much free publicity and exposure for the region as we can. The range of coverage listed in this annual report shows the success of this.

YPT partnered with Channel 7’s SA Weekender late last year as part of SATC’s regional coop marketing grant to film and produce a series of promotional videos for YPT’s social media channels and website. It was a fantastic way to build the region’s media library and gives those businesses involved the opportunity to edit their footage for their own promotional needs. 12 videos were produced based on all experiential themes of the region and have been released over the past four months on YPT’s social media channels.

Congratulations to the 2019 SA Tourism Award winners announced in November 2019; Redwing Farm and Wallaroo Marina Apartments. We also congratulate Aboriginal Cultural Tours for winning Silver in the Qantas Award for Excellence in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Tourism. A major activity planned for YPT this year was the 2020 Yorke Peninsula Tourism Awards, however due to COVID-19 this project has been postponed to 2021.

As mentioned above, YPT wouldn’t be able to achieve all it does without the continuous support of its funding partners and I would like to sincerely acknowledge and thank the Copper Coast Council, Yorke Peninsula Council, Barunga West Council and the South Australian Tourism Commission for their support of our organisation and activities.

Success as a regional tourism organisation relies on a strong team and there are many individuals, businesses and organisations helping us achieve our goals. A huge thanks to Nicole Page for her amazing knowledge, ongoing support, and assistance; the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Committee for their valued voluntary contributions; Regional Development Australia Yorke & ; Tourism Industry Council SA. Thank you to Deb Clarke for holding the reigns over the past 14 months. To all the hard-working, passionate tourism operators and businesses throughout the region that support our activities and are the face of our industry, thank you.

Brooke Liebelt Yorke Peninsula Tourism Manager

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Yorke Peninsula Tourism Activities 2019 - 2020

TOURISM AWARDS • 5CS

At the 2019 South Australian Tourism Awards, • CNN Travel Wallaroo Marina Apartments won gold for Deluxe • Cruise 1323 Accommodation, with Redwing Farm winning • eGlobal Travel Media gold in the Hosted Accommodation category. • Escape.com.au • Glam The Yorke Peninsula Tourism Awards which were • Kids In Adelaide scheduled to be held in 2020, will be run in 2021. • Mix 1023 • New Idea Magazine

• SA Life Magazine CONSUMER SHOWS • Southern Cross GTS/BKN News Yorke Peninsula Tourism attended the following • Sunday Herald Sun Melbourne consumer shows: • Sunday Mail Adelaide - Adelaide Caravan & Camping Show (Feb 20) • Sunday Mail Brisbane - Melbourne Caravan & Camping Show (Feb 20) • Sunday Star Times • Sunday Telegraph • Sunday Times Perth • The Advertiser • The Australian • Tripzilla.com • Yorke Peninsula Country Times; monthly column plus regular coverage and editorial

COVID-19 SUPPORT

• Supplied operators & businesses with a continuous flow of information from SATC and SA Health.

• Circulated funding & support opportunities to assist businesses in bouncing back. • Commenced developing industry support program for roll-out in 20/21. Surveyed industry to see what development needs are required to better support and upskill our tourism businesses. • Open For Business program commenced early 2020. YPT partnered with RDAYMN to ensure visitors knew which businesses were open during the early COVID restrictions. • Promotion of SATC programs; Digital Training, Deloitte Resilience & Rebound webinar series.

MARKETING PACKAGE MEDIA COVERAGE Created an affordable marketing package for Yorke Peninsula has appeared in numerous tourism businesses comprising of advertising in the editorials in domestic and international travel and 2020 Yorke Peninsula Visitor Guide, business listing lifestyle publications, national press and radio as on an A3 YP map & a banner advert on well as state and national television. Media yorkepeninsula.com.au. 70,000 copies of the coverage included: guide printed and 50,000 copies of the A3 map.

• ABC North & West SA 582 leads to operators were generated through • ABC Radio Adelaide our website ads during 19/20. • 5AA

Yorke Peninsula Tourism Annual Report 2019-2020 Page 6 of 10 MARKETING PACKAGE continued… Hashtag feeds for #YorkePeninsula, #WalkTheYorke & #InnesNationalPark are now Due to COVID a digital also displayed on website as well as more video release of the guide content to allow the user a more interactive took place in April 2020 followed by the launch experience. As you can see in the previous of the printed collateral. paragraph YPT’s website had over 100,000 visits during 2019/20 averaging over 330 visits a day. REGIONAL FAMILIARISATIONS AUSTRALIAN TOURISM DATA WAREHOUSE

For journalists, Ongoing work with industry to increase the industry and trade number of listings on the ATDW. It is still a vital tool for the tourism industry. We currently have 760 • Cruise line/Inbound Tour Operator visit products listed on the ATDW, with 19,868 leads to operators during 19/20. • On-board cruise function for inaugural docking at Wallaroo PUBLIC RELATIONS • RAA Travel • Regular communication with media DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT • Media Releases

Ongoing work with industry to increase online • YPCT Column - Talking Tourism booking and social media capability. • Monthly e-newsletter to industry • Facebook Industry and Consumer pages Increased the level of product bookable online • Industry Workshops and registered on the ATDW. • Familiarisation tours and hosting

Ongoing work with SATC and TXA to encourage • Work closely with SATC PR team ATDW registered businesses to opt into online • Ensure YP content in SATC newsletters and bookings. Yorke Peninsula’s website now offers 235 publications products available for booking online. • Respond to media requests • PR assistance provided to operators and One on one training for operators to assist with events ATDW listings remains a priority. • Assist with SATC Welcome Back campaign

Worked closely with TICSA to deliver Service IQ activities workshops based around digital capability building.

2019/20 statistics: • Website visits: 122,540 (84.9% new, 15.1% return) • ATDW leads: 19,868 • Instagram hashtag feed views: 33,597 • Advertising leads: 582 • Facebook consumer page: 15,951 likes • Facebook industry page: 868 likes • Instagram: 8,829 followers Example of creative from SATC’s Welcome Back campaign WEBSITE - yorkepeninsula.com.au DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT As part of SATC’s Cooperative Marketing Fund, Worked with developers and operators on YPT enhanced its website through what is known regional projects including: as a PWA development – better customer • Ballara Art & Lifestyle Retreat experience in using site with faster loading spends, • Bond Store Wallaroo app functionality and ability to open cached • Harry Butler 100-year celebrations content offline. • Hillocks Drive

• Kadina Hub

• Kadina Football Club

Yorke Peninsula Tourism Annual Report 2019-2020 Page 7 of 10 • Marna Banggara (previously Great Southern VASCO DA GAMA CRUISE VISITS Ark, Rewilding Yorke Peninsula) After many years of proposals and presentations, • Moonta Mines YPT in partnership with Copper Coast Council • Moonta Traders (CCC) and SATC were successful in having a • North Beach Kitchen cruise company include Wallaroo on their itinerary • Potential new experiences and hire product for the first time. We commenced work with SATC, • Potential new developments CCC, the cruise line (CMV) and the Inbound Tour • Redwing Farmstay • Seafood On Spencer • Stansbury Museum • Tarnasey Farm • Taste The Yorke • Tickera Community Association • Tirri Tirri Beachhouse • Charters • Walk The Yorke • Wallaroo Blue Crab Festival • Yorke Peninsula Coastal Walks • Yorke Peninsula King Prawn Carnivale • Yorke Peninsula’s Saltwater Classic • Yorkes Emporium operator (Intercruises) to assist with developing

itineraries and arranging meetings with operators EVENTS on a familiarisation visit. Three visits were Many events scheduled for 2020 have been scheduled for Wallaroo in the 19/20 cruise season. postponed to 2021 due to COVID these include The first visit was a great success however the 2nd but not limited to; visit was cancelled due to weather conditions and • Seafood On Spencer whilst the 3rd visit went ahead, and passengers had • YP Saltwater Classic a wonderful time it was impacted by the hot summer conditions. Cruise ship arrivals took place Before COVID, Yorke Peninsula Tourism continued on 8th December 2019 & 3rd January 2020. COVID to do weekly radio interviews on 5CS to promote has caused challenging times for the cruise upcoming events, encourage locals to get out industry, however YPT will continue to work with and about in the region and to share their photos SATC and CCC to ensure Wallaroo is a and videos of the region on social media via consideration for itinerary planning moving tagging their images. This is due to resume late forward. 2020.

INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS Partnerships are a vital part of YPT’s work and collaboration is key to achieving success. In addition to YPT’s key stakeholders below are YPT’s industry partners who we collaborated with in 2019/20.

• Caravan & Camping Industry Association of South Australia (CCIASA) • Legatus • Northern & Yorke Landscapes Board • RAA Travel • RDA Yorke & Mid North • Tasting Australia • TicSA Service IQ Program • Visitor Information Provider Network

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PROJECTS • Yorke Peninsula Tourism has worked with the • YPT partnered with Channel 7’s SA SATC to report on progress towards targets in Weekender to create 12 promotional videos the Regional Visitor Strategy. A review of this to promote Yorke Peninsula as part of the strategy will be taking place in 2020/21. SATC’s Cooperative Marketing grant. 3 council areas were covered including over • Yorke Peninsula Tourism was successful in a 20 tourism businesses and product. The joint application with Yorke Peninsula Council videos have been released on YPT’s digital for funding through the Federal assets and have reached over 92,000 Government’s Bushfire Tourism Recovery Facebook users and have been shared 340 Fund. This grant will assist in funding mural times via Facebook. artworks on 4 water tower/tanks located in , , Stansbury and Yorketown – all towns which were affected by the 2020 bushfire. The tourism product will be the creation of a Water Tower Art Trail due for completion in April 2021.

INDUSTRY TRAINING & WORKSHOPS

Provided ongoing training for operators throughout the region and networking opportunities including but not limited to the below;

• 1-on-1 ATDW training • Digital Training Program • Online Mentoring Program • TICSA Service IQ workshops • SATC Event Management Workshops Example of video engagement on Facebook • SATC Digital Training Program

• Deloitte Resilience & Rebound series • COVID-19 Awareness Training program

Example of video content

• YPT assisted Barunga West Council with the creation of a Tourism Marketing Plan.

• YPT was involved in the development of the YP Shopping platform with RDA, CCC, YPC & BWC, providing a one-stop marketplace for YP online businesses. This was essential during COVID restrictions to ensure locals were supporting local businesses.

Yorke Peninsula Tourism Annual Report 2019-2020 Page 9 of 10 Financials

Details of association: Tourism Marketing Committee - Yorke Peninsula Incorporated Registration Number of Association: A36389 Trading as Yorke Peninsula Tourism

Financial Year: 2019/2020

Public Officer: Debra Clarke Yorke Peninsula Tourism Manager (1st July 2019 – 24th June 2020)

Brooke Renae Liebelt Yorke Peninsula Tourism Manager (24th June 2020 – present) Ph: 0419 187 467 Email: [email protected]

Financials: Monger Accounting, Public Accountants 15 Digby Street, Kadina, SA 5554

Auditor: Peter Whitehead, Audit Manager & Dean Withers, Chartered Accountant Withers Advisory 15 Fifth Street, Minlaton, SA 5575

The books of the association are located at 18 Main Street, Minlaton, SA 5575

Committee Members 2019-2020 Craig Costello – Chairperson Jo Buchanan – Deputy Chairperson Nicola Adams Cynthia Axford (term ended March 2020) Terry Boyce Helly Easther-Smith Stephen Goldsworthy Matthew Hawson Mark Haydon Lynn Spurling Paul Thomas

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