Published on Wednesday, 26 April 2023 at 12:10:00 AM
The Shire of Esperance Community Scorecard will land in mailboxes this May. We invite the community to complete the Scorecard, rate the Shire on local services, facilities and programs and express their needs.
In the lead up to the 2023 Scorecard, look out for these little articles pulling together all the work from the past two years as a result of the priority areas you told us about in 2021.
One of your Top 5 priorities from the 2021 Community Scorecard was Tourism Attractions and Marketing.
Council has since funded a Tourism Development Manager, in partnership with Australia’s Golden Outback. This has been instrumental in marketing Esperance to the rest of Australia and the world, lifting our profile further, and culminating with Esperance ranked 12th in the TSI 100 Most Popular Destinations (for perspective Byron Bay placed 38th and Gold Coast 98th). Marketing of our region featured on top rating breakfast tv show ‘Sunrise’’ when we funded a national live broadcast from Esperance - the first live broadcast from WA since lockdown. Tourism Australia senior staff visited Esperance for the first time in March. They were so impressed with the region that Esperance has been given a booth of its own at the 2023 Australian Tourism Exchange (over 700 buyers will be attending from around the world).
Some feedback from the last Scorecard included “There’s not enough for visitors to do…” On top of our pristine environment and long-term existing tourism operators, the past 18 months has seen development and support for new activities, and the growth has been exciting. New tours and experiences include
- Esperance Farm Experience
- DarkSky
- Fly Esperance 4x4 Tours
- Fly Esperance ‘’Pub Crawl’’ tour
- Esperance Coastal Tours
- HeliSpirits new ‘’Hammerhead Tour’’ and
- BEAM Scooters
Facilitation of more tourism accommodation options has delivered the introduction of the Shire’s Policy on Tiny Homes on Wheels (the first in Australia), and changes to the Chalet Accommodation on Rural Land Policy which has attracted high quality providers like Heyscape. We will continue to work with investors to facilitate a range of accommodation choices, including caravan parks, 4-5 star and workers accommodation.
The Cruise industry is back, with 6 ships stopping in the bay in the 22/23 season. The State Government was a major supporter in securing buses for pre-booked land tours.
4 cruise ships are already confirmed for the 23/24 season. These visits mean large influxes of customers, and create additional opportunities for local tourism vendors, and for the community to get behind our region and local businesses.
There is still more work to do in the tourism arena, but we believe we have a good plan moving forward.
- Accommodation – The Shire will continue to work to attract and assist investors looking to build accommodation in the region. Staff are working through a number of development applications, and will continue to liaise with all applicants to achieve successful outcomes. Projects underway include the RAC park expansion, Heyscape (Stage 1 & 2) and the Esperance Motor Hotel rebuild.
- Review and implement an improved Esperance Overflow Campground.
- Event Discussion Paper submitted to Council for endorsement.
The 2023 Community Perception Scorecard will start landing in your letterboxes from early May, and is the perfect opportunity to get your message across to the Shire and Council.
Fill out your hardcopy or online survey by 19 May 2023.
The survey is conducted by independent research company, CATALYSE®, with all responses and comments dealt with in the strictest confidence. When reporting results CATALYSE® only presents aggregated data. The Shire does not have access to any information from individual respondents.
Please Note – Comments on Social Media will not be considered as formal feedback.
Media Enquiries: media@esperance.wa.gov.au
26.04.2023
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