How council is helping business
IT’S BEEN heartening to read recent data from Spendmapp on how the state of dining, entertainment and retail in our region is faring.
Spending for these categories across the municipality has generally recovered to pre-Covid levels, assisted by an especially good Christmas 2021 trade.
It goes without saying that there are segments of business or precincts that aren’t experiencing this bounce back and, over the past two years, some businesses unfortunately didn’t make it.
The suburb of Geelong suffered a more pronounced dip in expenditure thanks to Covid-19, compared to other retail precincts.
Thankfully, locals and visitors are putting their wallets to good use in 3220, with 28 per cent of all dining and entertainment spending happening in the Geelong suburb in the 12 months to February 2022.
Council is working to continue this positive economic trend for central Geelong with a range of initiatives that aims to encourage visitation.
Our annual celebration of the best food and wine from Geelong’s restaurants, bars and cafes – Tastes of Central Geelong – returns from June 10-29.
Whether you’re a seasoned foodie or just open to trying out new flavours, there’s something for every palate. There’s afternoon tea with cook, author and TV presenter Adam Liaw, and a sweet treats demo with award-winning pastry chef Anna Polyviou.
You can sample amazing flavours on a walking tour, participate in food-themed events or duck into an igloo village at Johnstone Park.
Visit https://geelong.link/Tastes for the full program.
I thoroughly encourage you to enjoy the best of our local food and wine and, in doing so, help central Geelong businesses recover from Covid-19 restrictions.
Recently, council voted to include $700,000 in the proposed budget to deliver a program of activities and marketing campaigns for central Geelong, including Tastes of Central Geelong, and develop a three-year marketing strategy.
This funding reflects our commitment to providing meaningful support to central Geelong, which supports 27,000+ jobs, which will lead to flow-on benefits for the wider region.
It follows our decision in May last year not to declare the Central Geelong Special Rate, saving CBD businesses an average of $771 per year.
You might have noticed a whole lot more colour on the buildings and laneways of central Geelong, thanks to the street art of 11 female creatives.
Commissioned by council, the creative works not only aim to support women street artists in a traditionally male-dominated industry, but attract more foot traffic in the city and visitation to surrounding hospitality outlets.
We’ve had so much positive feedback on this free outdoor gallery – it’s well worth donning the runners, buying a coffee and hunting each piece out.
When it comes to supporting our business community more broadly, we are proposing a commercial rates cut by an average of 7 per cent (which would see an average saving of $387.74 per annum) across the region.
This reduction is proposed as part of our Rating & Revenue Plan in the draft budget for 2022-23.
The plan has been shaped by business sector and community feedback, and would see commercial and industrial rates brought closer to the residential rate over the next four years.
Council has allocated millions over the past two years for fee refunds, rate waivers, rent reductions, parking initiatives and support programs.
The city team has visited and assisted more than 1600 retail and hospitality businesses through our Covid Business Support program, while our Business Concierge Service assisted nearly 300 businesses last year.
We have free and low-cost training options, mentoring and education programs available, and our Geelong Small Business Festival is back in August for a month of learning and networking.
With winter just around the corner, I hope the festivals, delicious food and beverage options, gigs and shows happening in central Geelong and beyond entice you to leave the warmth of home. The “Think Local First” mantra when purchasing goods and services is still vital as our region adjusts to the new Covid normal. Our business community relies on it.
THE CITY TEAM HAS VISITED AND ASSISTED MORE THAN 1600 RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY BUSINESSES THROUGH OUR COVID BUSINESS SUPPORT PROGRAM.