Vox pop
A draft strategy has been developed to promote the recreational vehicle tourism potential in Baw Baw Shire.
The strategy may see Yarragon, Rawson and Neerim South developed as recreational vehicle friendly towns.
A report to council said tourist towns in the shire had reported an increase of RV travellers through their towns.
There are currently no RV approved sites in the shire but some camping grounds permit recreational vehicles.
The draft also suggests council consider more long vehicle parking options, particularly near the Warragul central business district.
Improving council’s existing visitor information service also is a key to attracting and improving the RV visitor experience in the shire.
Council has released a draft Recreational Vehicle (RV) Strategy to seek community feedback. The strategy found there were two tops of RV traveller to the shire:
Through travellers (Sydney-Melbourne market, East Gippsland and South Coast NSW visitors) generally staying one or two nights; and caravan/campers/RV visitors to the shire including regional and metropolitan visitors.
By establishing “RV friendly towns”, the strategy said RV travellers know they will be welcome and certain services will be provided for them that may not be available in other centres.
Cr Michael Leaney said this matter had been on the agenda for a long time.
He said the key aims were to encourage RV travellers to visit Baw Baw Shire and enhance the visitor experience.
Cr Leaney said the strategy provided recommendations that were “actionable, achievable and financially viable.”
Cr Peter Kostos said there had been a lot of consultation to bring this strategy together.
He encouraged community members to have their say on the draft strategy.
The focus of community consultation will be to:
Involve the community in determining an actionable, achievable plan, that is financially viable to increase RV Tourism for Baw Baw Shire;
Understand the community's views and expectations of visitor information services; and clearly identify the role of council, community, associations, businesses and groups in RV Tourism.
Consultation will include commercial caravan park owners, business operators, business and tourism associations, community groups and community members.
Officers said it was important council considered the commercial caravan park industry given the significant investment into their business, the economy, the increasing overhead costs for operating their sites and their current offering to the RV market.
As press conferences and national cabinet meetings continue to dominate the airwaves, the Gazette headed out into Warragul to find out what the public thought of state leadership.
This week a poll was conducted, surveying the popularity of each premier in their respective states with some interesting results. The leaders have dominated the airwaves at various press conference in the past three months, but which leaders made the biggest impression on the community here and is there a favourite emerging? Here are some of the local responses.
Evi Tsandilis - Inverloch
Hugh Calton - Warragul
Mary Rose Quirk, Bob Holt – Warragul