Workshop Readings

For your convenience the reference documents are now available to download from  Sapphire Coast Tourism's Web site
http://www.sapphirecoast.com.au/heritagetourismproject.php
To save you some time we have pointed out the relevant parts of particular interest for the project and some highlights.

a.     The Sapphire Coast  Heritage Strategy

The aim of the Sapphire Coast Heritage Tourism Strategy is to identify key heritage tourism stories that will inspire the “Experience Seeker” market to visit the region, extend their length of stay and increase spending in the local economy;

The deliverables of this are:

·      A strategy that delivers heritage tourism and leverages the Australia’s Coastal Wilderness brand in order to encourage additional visitors to the destination;

·      Identification of key heritage tourism experiences that align with the needs of the “Experience Seekers” target market to extend visitor’s length of stay and dispersal across the region;

·      A suite of strategies to effectively deliver, develop, market and manage key experiences that are distinctive for the Sapphire Coast and create a competitive edge for the destination.

b.     The BVSC Draft Development Control Plan 2012

     

      The draft of this document went on Public Display in September 2012 and, together with the LEP, forms the land use planning and development controls for the Bega Valley Shire local government area.

This plan seeks to ensure that future development is consistent with the desired future character and community vision for the Bega Valley Shire’s towns, villages, urban settlements and rural areas.

        The document is comprehensive and of particular interest to the Heritage Strategy are:

section 2

section 3.1  Residential Locality Objectives

section 4.1  Rural Development Objectives

section 5.9  Signage and Advertising

section 5.9.4  Applications for signage page 162 an info graphic on signage applications

section 7  site specific requirements in particular 

section 7.3.4.3  colours

c.  The BVSC Adopted Tourism Signage Plan

The Tourism and Facility Signage Plan is an element of the Tourism Options Review completed by Bega Valley Shire Council in 2010. Its final conclusion was the rationalisation of existing uninformative, confusing and outdated signage and replacement with consistently coloured, coded and branded signage, which will ease the visual pollution and traffic confusion in the Shire.

        The info graphic mentioned in section 5.9.4, page 162 above, gives a straightforward overview of the regulatory expectations regarding signage. Reading C concurrently with B – 5.9.4 - helps clarify what could be seen as a quagmire.

        We are particularly interested in

3. Town Signage/Information Bay (page11)

6. Town exit signage/information Bay (page 17)

3. Brand, information and Icons (page 18) (sic)

     

d.      The Brand Toolkit, Australia’s Coastal Wilderness

      This relatively short, well designed and thoughtful document is what should be driving this project. What is our competitive advantage?

Find the uniqueness – your Destination Positioning

The first step involved locals distilling what Australia’s Coastal Wilderness has that isn’t found anywhere else in the world.

Destination Positioning workshops were held throughout the Landscape.

The goal was to discover and document the core positioning that distinguishes Australia’s Coastal Wilderness from other Landscapes throughout Australia.

This agreed Destination Positioning is not about an advertising campaign, a new logo or even a tag line. Positioning is the engine that drives the way you offer and deliver your product now and for decades to come. It permeates all experiences, creative approaches, communication and marketing.

It’s what differentiates you. It’s your competitive advantage.

This is the unique voice of Australia’s Coastal Wilderness. Positioning underpins the words and images we use to sell our Landscape to the world. The more consistently we all use those words and images, the stronger our message.

e.     Australia’s Coastal Wilderness Experiences Development Strategy

This is a comprehensive document and everyone should read it.

Australia’s Coastal Wilderness Positioning Statement

“This hidden pocket of Australia’s endless coastline is where you can get close and share your love of nature.  Immerse yourself in the natural beauty of tall forests, lakes and beaches in this unspoilt coastal wilderness”

Looking at Australia’s Coastal Wilderness through the three Tourism Australia lenses (below) it is clear that the destination builds on Australia’s ‘pillars’ of people, environment and lifestyle. It appeals to the core Australian holiday ‘motivations’ for self-fulfilment, relationships, health, freedom and provides a range of settings to deliver many of the core ‘experiences’, especially beaches, nature and Indigenous.

There is no place in Australia that can deliver this experience like Australia’s Coastal Wilderness. The natural beauty and its unique mix of isolation and sensitive development with its relative proximity to the major population centres make it truly unique.