the opportunity for change
TRANSCRIPT
The opportunity of change: Using a Destination Management Plan to drive profound reform
Simon McArthur, Manager Tourism and Economic DevelopmentNewcastle City CouncilFor Local Government Tourism Conference, March 2012
Lonely Planet rates Newcastle in world’s top ten cities to visit
Sometimes you get lucky
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Presentation Notes
Sometimes you get lucky In 2010 the Lonely Planet awarded Newcastle one of the top 10 cities in the World Go to video clip… That award and their reasoning behind it highlighted that Newcastle’s stereotype was being replaced by something quite interesting
The changing image of Newcastle
Stereotype
Reality
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Some blokes in Newcastle still wear singlets But now the ones wearing them aren’t so much like the ones on the left, but the one on our right - he’s one of our performance artists that activates our commercial areas with amazing fire twirling performance
The changing image of Newcastle
StereotypeReality
Reality
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The working harbour is still there But the city side has been revitalised to the extent people pay close to Sydney housing prices for a waterfront apartment like these ones, and anything near the beach is in the same boat
So when you get lucky…
Unforeseen opportunities are the best trigger to undertake profound reform
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Did we set out to win the award? Should we have won the award? It doesn’t matter This was an opportunity to capitalise on Not just by using traditional PR and promotion to lever the accolade But by using the optimism it created to make profound reform… Enough reform, so that when the hype and optimism dissipates, you have a restructured, rebuilt and rebranded destination that doesn’t rely on the accolade So here’s our story, of how we used a Destination Management Plan to reach that goal
Our approach to Destination Management
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The vision for our Tourism & Economic Development unit is to become redundant! By that we mean doing all we can to prepare the ground for the private sector and a few NGO’s to take over whatever’s left that we were doing So we figured that a plan should be a sequence of initiatives, each preparing the ground for the next So we set up a DMP based on a three staged process… Stage 1 is about creating savings in our human and financial budget, savings based on saying: do we have to do this? are we the best people to be doing this? is there anyone who, with some help and incubation could do it as well, if not better than us? If the answer is yes, then we can reinvest our savings in doing what we are best placed to do - building capacity of others Stage 2 is about redeveloping our product and rebranding our destination we’re right in the middle of this stage we’ve done the re-branding and are part way through the product reinvigoration Stage 3 is about attracting private investment into further tourism development and brand take up - We believe that Stage 3 is dependent on the other two getting done, though already we’re seeing some of this happen, against the credit squeeze, just because of the optimistic culture we’re creating
Stage 1 a – create savings for reinvestment
Change from Level 1 Council VIC to Level 3 industry VIC
Contemporise visitor info services - 16 touch screen kiosks (13 industry funded) - phone app
No users per days increased threefold
Cost per customer gone from $8.18 to 2cents
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The first priority of our DMP was to end Council’s delivery of a Level 1 Visitor Information Centre It was costing us $8.18 per customer Each day the proportion of visitors using the internet to predetermine their destination and associated bookings, was growing at the expense of the need for centrally located, 10 – 5 face to face VIC’s – they still work for the grey nomads but the rest are leaving them behind with ABBA, safari suits and long Friday lunches We contemporised our visitor information service by: -introducing 16 touch screens across the city - we now provide visitor information where the customer wants it – in their hotel lobby, at train stations, attractions and hotel lobbies, one in each of our Level 3 VIC’s and one roving for cruise visits and events - we have fresh content with video grabs and sound that really helps capture the more fluid product like events and exhibitions we paid for the two in our VIC’s and one for events and cruise ship visits The industry paid for the other 13 The cost per customer has reduced from eight dollars to two cents
Stage 1b Build industry capacity
Build industry based LTA
Reform grants to sponsorships
$ value$ value
IndependencyIndependency
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Building industry capacity started with restructuring our own unit The VIC changes allowed us to shift $220k in human resources from information provision to product development and marketing We then replaced event operations staff with contractors and used the savings to employ a major events attractor Then we switched from a Council based local tourism association to an industry-based association We did the grunt work but we handed over the funds and shared the decision making with our Newcastle Tourism Industry Group The result has been a doubling of membership from the government days and tripling of industry financial contribution to marketing Then we reformed our own subsidy and grant program We split our community assistance program into a community grants and economic sponsorships The economic program is more based around our specific priorities, and now includes the private sector, and 3 year offers with 3rd year underwriting Then we moved 60% of our subsidy funds to the new grants and sponsorships to reduce dependency (dependency being greatest with subsidies and least with sponsorship)
Stage 2a – rebrand Newcastle
Develop brand essence & logo
Website landing page
Collateral refreshment
PR campaign Photo shoot & story expansion Introduce physical expressions
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With savings and industry capacity established, Stage 2 of the DMP started with a rebrand. Our brand is designed to undo our black and white stereotype and surprise people with the diversity of our offer, reflected in the logo’s vibrant colour scheme We built a brand to consistently market Newcastle for economic development, not just tourism, which has helped ensure its based in what’s real and deliverable Our brand values are: �Hard working; Genuine / real; World class; and Always changing The central value typing these together is Opportunity �and our tag line is SEE Change We aren’t promising we’re there yet, but that we’ve changed enough to have left our stereotype behind After developing the brand essence & logo we Built a landing page within the visit newcastle website Refreshed all business and leisure tourism collateral Initiated a PR campaign Undertook a really large photo shoot & story expansion to capture all of the brand essence, loading these onto our brand page and making them freely available Have just started introducing physical expressions of the brand around the City�- Newcastle buses reach north to Port Stephens and south to Sydney�- we’d love our own version of a Hollywood sign, small enough to climb on and interact with
Stage 2 b – redevelop product
Reinvigorate valuable events that highlight brand - sport, beaches, harbour
MonthEvent
stimulus
Number of events in the
month
Total event days in month
Airport demand for stimulus
Accommodation demand for
stimulusJanuary Mild 3 16 No Yes
February Good 3 32 Yes No
March Good 5 23 No Yes
April Mild 2 15 No Yes
May Little 3 4 Yes Yes
June Little 3 4 Yes Yes
July Mild 4 17 Maybe Maybe
August Little 3 3 Maybe Maybe
September Little 6 6 Yes Maybe
October Good 13 29 No No
November Mild 10 11 Maybe No
December Mild 7 10 Maybe No
Move / attract events to low occupancy periods
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We started our product redevelopment phase with events Events are more flexible to change and experiment with We used what we call a traffic light calendar of events to correlate actual event days with occupancy and general industry need for stimulus It was a shock to see healthy occupancy months overloaded with events �– stimulating periods like October to December that didn’t need it�– Meanwhile January had our lowest occupancy periods and no events Over the last year we deliberately reduced October event days from from 29 to 20 and increased January average event days from 3 to 15 Overall rates and occupancy held their ground in October and lifted in January – exactly what the DMP sought to achieve Furthermore, the new events that bolstered January, such as the Nutri Grain Iron Man, National Surf Boat Rowers Championships and National Bowl Riding Championships, are all keen to come back, so the brand match and support worked The traffic light calendar is a simple concept to understand and report on, so it gets more people on board
Stage 2b – redevelop productHarbour tour and soft adventure
Digital and sculptural installations
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The other aspect of product development that we are just about to start, is tour and attraction development that will highlight our brand values We recently opened the Newcastle Museum, which is a more retro and carefree approach to interpreting our local history The second product we are about to start is a harbour tour skipping the thawed prawns and mindless pre-recorded commentary but featuring the authentic stories from those who operate one of the busiest working harbours in the southern hemisphere then we hope to create a soft adventure like Bridgeclimb, to get people really close to the industrial infrastructure that serves the Port The third brand-driven project we are about to start is City Evolutions, a combination of digital projections and lit moving sculptures that interpret some of the key stories that formed and rebuilt the city – like a permanent version of Sydney’s Vivid Festival – we’re investing around $300,000 to get this going, with the support of local business and some external grants - We’re hoping Stream 2 Product Development runs again next year so we can extend from the city to the Harbour
Stage 3a – private sector investment
One more coastal function centre
Coastal Function Centre
Wet spa retreat in Newcastle baths
100 more backpacker beds
Newcastle Baths
Regional Convention, Exhibition & Ent Centre + 300 rooms of 4 & 5 star hotel + 150 rooms self-contained apartments
New domestic & intl routes to Newcastle Airport
Potential Harbour-front site for a Convention, Exhibition & Entertainment Centre
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The third stage of our Destination Management Plan is to target and facilitate quite specific private sector investment We’ve just just finished a great coastal function centre, restaurant, bar and cafe at Merewether Beach�- we have one more in mind overlooking Newcastle Beach, adapting the grounds of the former club club as pictured We’re doing the pre-feasibility on the adaptation of the Newcastle Baths into a wet spa and boutique accommodation We think the new attraction and tour product will warrant 100 more backpacker beds, and we have the first 30 in the DA process Our biggest chase is the development of a Regional Convention, Exhibition & Entertainment Centre�- we have completed the demand analysis, identified the strongest model and potential sites�- now we are writing the Brief for a feasibility study for the facility and 300 rooms of 4 & 5 star hotel, as well as 150 rooms of self-contained apartments This business tourism combination should further assist Newcastle Airport to secure additional key feeder routes like Darwin and New Zealand
Stage 3 b Industry brand take-up
Integration of Newcastle brand started by - city centre ‘Newcastle Now’ - major events and attractions
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The other concurrent objective in Stage 3 is much more extensive industry take-up of Brand Newcastle A number of organisations have rebranded to fit the mother brand, such as our city centre Newcastle Now Many of of our signature events have also rebranded to become part of the mother brand The challenge is to develop and implement the brand across our wider emerging business sectors, such as education, health and renewable energy To do this we are very pleased to see a private and public sector consortium is developing a strategy - Led by our largest brand and design company, Enigma
Stage 3 b Industry brand take-up
Roll out brand into wider economy
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The other concurrent objective in Stage 3 is much more extensive industry take-up of Brand Newcastle A number of organisations have rebranded to fit the mother brand, such as our city centre Newcastle Now Many of of our signature events have also rebranded to become part of the mother brand The challenge is to develop and implement the brand across our wider emerging business sectors, such as education, health and renewable energy To do this we are very pleased to see a private and public sector consortium is developing a strategy - Led by our largest brand and design company, Enigma
Reflections
1. Use the DMP to create reform - not just package the obvious
2. Build the DMP to have logic - such as a staged approach
3. Regularly report progress - good and bad
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To reflect and offer some take home messages…I’d say 1. Use the DMP to create reform, not just package the bleeding obvious Use it to argue out the issues and the benefits of reform If you’re pouring funds into things that are providing minimal return, then re-prioritise and restructure 2. Build your DMP to have a logic, such as the staged approach we used The logic helps people understand what needs to be done when, which makes a huge difference to buy in 3. Report on your progress regularly, including what isn’t going to work and has to be ditched or reconfigured Our two year DMP is 80% implemented, 20% ahead of time, so we will need to update it later this year