Sustainable Tourism Plan 2023 - 2028
The visitation to our local tourist hotspots this year over the Christmas-New Year period has resulted in local businesses reporting up to six times their average turnover for the same time in previous years. A local hospitality business reported “a record 1447 meals prepared/served in a day”.
It’s high time to progress a sustainable tourism plan to ensure our communities benefit from tourism while also retaining Mansfield Shire’s amenity and natural beauty. A community collaboration will be used to progress the Mansfield Sustainable Tourism Plan 2023 – 2028.
Sustainable tourism planning considers the current and future economic, social and environmental impacts and addresses the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and the community.
It will cover:
- a shared statement of intent to manage a destination;
- a vision for the destination (Mansfield Shire and individual key townships);
- barriers to sustainable growth and how these can be mitigated;
- proactive risk management before there is an adverse impact (traffic, housing availability/affordability, sustainability of nature assets.)
- recommendations that align with the guiding vision to sustainably grow and enhance the visitor economy;
- clear prioritised action plan for each of the destinations and articulated roles of different stakeholders; and
- implementation measurement and evaluation process.
Due to the importance of our local stakeholder opinions, and to ensure we arrive at a result that has a high level of support, Council urges the community to share their thoughts, feedback, and advice in the surveys below and at our workshops.
Community engagement will have a phased approach:
- Phase one is project inception - complete
- Phase two will be information gathering and direction input - complete
- Phase three is obtaining feedback on the direction
- Phase four is obtaining feedback on draft plan
- Phase five is the presentation of the final plan.
Phase two has now been completed. We have had 11 sessions with community and businesses in Goughs Bay, Mansfield, Jamieson, Merrijig, and Bonnie Doon.
We also have had already 4 sessions with the focus group, with one more scheduled next week. Following this session the focus group will be asked to provide feedback on specific sections of the plan while its being drafted.
You can still nominate to join the focus group by emailing Council@mansfield.vic.gov.au
Round two (phase 3) of community sessions have been completed as well on the dates noted. At these sessions feedback was requested on the vision, image, risk and actions for each location.
The draft plan will be published at the start of February.