Thankyou to the new memberswho have recently joined and another gentle reminder for those who have not sent off their propectus as yet. Please get in touch ASAP if you wish to remain listed on the site.

Speaking of which, there has been lots of activity on the site and we have many new postcard subscribers. So for the newbies as well as others, a little update on what Tourism Ballina has achieved so far  this year to date.

From the branding slogan ‘Ballina.. it will take your breath away…’, we now have merchandising options…from:

* T-shirts to
* Postcards;
* Banners to
* Signage.

A by-product of the filming, is that we now have a base advertisement, additional footage and stills in order to produce a 4 to 5 minute montage Promotional DVD. Free to Members, this will also be commercially available for Conferences, Seminars, Trade Shows or as a Sales and Educational tool. This will be ready within the next few weeks.

Tourism Ballina is the Private Sector Tourism Industry’s Membership body, driving the growth of Ballina Coast & Hinterland tourism businesses.

By supporting these businesses you are supporting the improvement of tourism services in Ballina and this helps all those that live and work here as well as visitors from outside of the region.

---

---

Ballina Headlands Leisure Park (Ballina) received a commendation award in the Best Park Residential Section category at the recent Caravan and Camping Industry Association of NSW’s annual Awards of Excellence on 24 July 2008 at Novotel North Beach in Wollongong.

The CCIA Awards of Excellence recognise residential parks, holiday parks, manufacturers, dealers and suppliers to the industry for business and environmental excellence. 23 Awards of Excellence winners and 20 Gumnut Awards recipients were awarded at the event in Wollongong.

“Ballina Headlands Leisure Park showcases some of the quality facilities and care for residents provided by tourist parks in NSW with integrated residential sections,” said Mr Barry Baillie, CEO, CCIA.

---

Read the latest newsletter from Tourism NSW Click Here

---

Increased funding for regional tourism including the Northern Rivers is a component of the draft strategy for NSW Tourism released by Tourism Minister The Hon. Matt Brown.

$10.5 million for regional tourism in additional funding over three years is long overdue, but its great news and welcomed by Northern Rivers Tourism said the CEO, Mr. Russell Mills, today. Currently Northern Rivers Tourism’s government funding is $111,000 a year and this has the potential to more than double, with the possibility of further funding where it is matched by industry and local government.

“The 13 regional tourism organisations developed for the first time a united strategy which ensures that the regions can take charge of their own destiny; this is now reflected in the draft paper and submitted to the NSW Government for approval by Cabinet.

“The funding increase is great news as in the past, regional tourism was the stepchild of tourism when it came to funding, even though over 70% of the tourism expenditure and overnight visitation  in the domestic market takes place in regional NSW.

The additional funding gives us a rare opportunity to build the capacity of regional tourism organisations to develop sustainable tourism strategies. Implicit to this initiative is stronger partnerships between local, regional and state tourism organisations, as well as industry participation,” said Mr. Mills.

“No-one understands regional tourism better than the people who work and live in the regions – that’s why we have formed FORTO (Forum of Regional Tourism Organisations) and developed strategies which will improve tourism outcomes in regional NSW,” Mr. Mills added.

Other components of the tourism strategy for NSW include

You can also read the reponse from Don Page Member for Ballina and the NSW Shadow Minister for Tourism.

Well that was a long postcard this week!
Hope the sunny weather continues.
The whales are heading south already and can be seen broaching in quite close from the headlands along the Ballina Coastlien.as well as futher north.

Cheers,
Dave.

Hi, a quick update …..

Have a look at the new street maps view available from our website www.tourismballina.com.au

Try to find your business, as most of the Ballina Coast and Hinterland is covered. This could be a great asset for locals and visitors alike as it will make recognising a location much more easier.

Remember this is how you will be viewed by those coming to either our site or Google Maps.

Is there something you can do to enhance your street image? This is your shopfront from which you sell after all.

What do you think, is this an invasion of privacy, or a help with locating a business or location?

PS my house and business got missed ………

Also thanks to those who have responded with some questions to be asked of the candidates for the upcoming council elections.

Just in is the NRT Industry News August 2008

And another gentle reminder for those who have not renewed their membership…….

Cheers,
DaVE

Hi, another sunny day that our region is normally known by……let’s hope the weather holds.

WOW, what a month, the website has attracted twice as many enquiries then previously usually obtained.

Thank you to the more than 50% of members who have already renewed their membership and as well taken out extra website options.

These operators are already benefitting from the increased website activity.

I know this sort of thing can slip from your memory, so if you haven’t renewed please contact me ASAP so that you do not lose your FREE listing on the website.

Have a look and perhaps your business could benefit.

Contact Dave for all enquiries.

Renewing your membership will enable us to continue to represent you with other tourism bodies and with our major tourism promotions including our television advertising.

At present the TV advertisement is targeting viewers in the South West Queensland region, so we hope that we will be attracting additional potential visitors to the Ballina Coast and Hinterland.

Do you know of a business that is not a member yet? Let them know by forwarding this postcard from Tourism Ballina using the link found near the end of this email.

The region benefitted from recent regional events such as The Byron Bay Writers Festival, Splendour in the Grass and The Lennox Longboard Classic. Even though these events aren’t always located here, their close proximity leads to an increase in visitors to the Ballina Coast and Hinterland.

We are working with some of these regional events to help with cross promotion. Such an important upcoming event is The Fatherhood Festival in Bangalow, where we have a direct link to our accommodation operators from their ticketing page.

Please look at our Regional Events page, do we have something missing? Do you know of an event that needs to be added or how we can help them with promotion.

We have some great ideas up our sleeve to help promote events, the region in general and most importantly our member operators.

And now onto the most important upcoming Council Elections.

Tourism Ballina will be inviting candidates to respond to a number of Industry Related Questions in the lead up to the Councillor Elections.

As the Tourism Industries representative body, it is important that we understand their views on a business segment that adds $100 million plus of new monies to the Shire’s economy.

So to help us formulate the questions you would like asked please contact Contact Dave, the secretary of Tourism Ballina so that these can be collated and distributed once candidates have been announced.

We will be collating and reporting the candidates’ responses through a ‘Postcard from Tourism Ballina’, on our website and a well in the newspapers.

Cheers,
DaVE