Message from our Chair
Dear Partners,
2020 certainly saw us throw out the rule book as we navigated our way through the uncertainty and challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic ground our industry to a halt.
Never in our lifetimes did we ever think our role would require us to encourage visitors to “stay away” from our spectacular region for the safety of our communities.
We proved to be a resilient community, even with an estimated staggering loss of $2.6 billion in visitor expenditure in 2020, and the significant impact this had directly on business, jobs and our community.
Our key role as a cross border entity became more critical than ever. Cross border issues and anomalies saw us working tirelessly to ensure both the Victorian and New South Wales governments were aware of the impacts that closed borders and State restrictions had on border towns that effectively work as one community of interest.
We developed a COVID Recovery Strategy and action plan and continue to advocate for funding from all levels of Governments to support our vital industry. Implementation of our plan continues and in partnership with our local government and state agency partners we will deliver highly effective marketing, industry and product development programs to grow the visitor economy.
The year clearly demonstrated the need to remain agile and responsive and be prepared to continuously evolve and adapt.