SW councils unite over tourism strategy

A plan designed to provide a unified approach to promoting South West tourism took a step forward this week when seven local government chief executive officers signed a memorandum of understanding.

The Bunbury Wellington and Boyup Brook Regional Tourism Development Strategy was signed on Monday and work will now begin to appoint a person to oversee it.

A number of tourism targets by 2030 have been set in the strategy.

These include $425,348,000 of annual visitor expenditure across the region from 559,000 overnight and 1,686,000 day trip visitors.

Chief executive officers from Bunbury, Dardanup, Capel, Harvey, Collie, Donnybrook-Bridgetown and Boyup Brook councils all signed off on the strategy.

Bunbury and Dardanup council chief executive officers Andrew Brien and Mark Chester described the memorandum’s signing as a “long time coming”.

“One of the greatest challenges was going to be how to implement it and the development of the MOU provides an opportunity for that to occur,” Mr Brien said.

“The role that each individual council has played is a clear indication they all see it as a positive outcome for the region.”

Mr Chester also said he hoped the strategy would help every local government involved to prosper.

Capel Shire Council chief executive officer Paul Sheedy described the plan as the “only way forward” for the region, while Harvey Shire Council chief executive officer Michael Parker said he hoped it would better coordinate the promotion of the region’s tourism products.