We believe the process of developing a destination plan is more important than the document. Our consultation process is interesting, educational and empowering.

Destination development plans

Each of our plans matches target markets with core product to ensure that the region has focus and rationale for allocating its limited resources.

Each of our plans concentrates on improving this competitive advantage through practical strategies in product development, positioning and capacity building.

Our clients like the way we not only help them plan, but how at the same time we empower them with tools and build on existing networks to deliver long term benefits.

Our planning process is very participative – we work closely with stakeholders, introducing them to concepts, ideas and feedback that they immediately value and start using. It is very gratifying to see operators get re-energised to grow their business after spending time with usWhile always respectful, we are always prepared to be clear what is not working, find solutions and help implement them.

Our Plans have received several Awards and we are often asked to further assist with the implementation of some strategies.

Food and wine-based plans

Food and beverages such as coffee, wine and spirits are a strong way to link a region’s attractions, accommodation and restaurants into an overall experience. We have expertise in identifying the most authentic, interesting and related elements and creating regional development strategies to make more from them.

Our destination plans often create linkages that stimulate economic benefits for other businesses

When we prepared the Plan for South Australia’s Barossa and Clare Valley, we matched food to the established wine tourism sector, through a Barossa Food Market and the Barossa Butcher, Baker and Winemaker Trail, winning several awards.

Cultural and nature-based plans

Regions with indigenous communities need plans that attract responsible tourists that can fit into simpler lodgings and services as a tradeoff to receiving a more authentic experience.

Our consultation uses local networks to create strategies that can be supported and implemented by local communities

We have created indigenous food experiences in South America and made cultural tours more interesting to emerging markets
Our cultural tourism focussed Destination Plans build from cultural events into supporting experiences that increase visitor spend beyond the event period.

Our nature tourism focused Destination Plans build more ecotourism experiences to reduce potential impact and increase benefits to local communities.

Economic projections

• Our economic impact assessment is a tool to quantitatively estimate an impact , and is based on:
• introducing an element of time changes and insecurity (comparison of scenarios);
• weighting of importance and intensity of economic activities (eg. participation in total employment, participation in GDP);
• comparing different types of effects (direct or indirect).

A slightly more sophisticated yet still cost effective approach we use is to convert known and estimated day and overnight spends for specific target markets. We typically use this data to compare a current scenario with an alternative, such as a single initiative or a mix of initiatives. The example below shows how we applied this to the Great Greenway Tourism Plan that we developed in Far North Queensland. The projection identified an additional $15M in economic impact over three years if the Plan?s strategies were fully implemented

Estimated economic impact of implementing the Destination Development Plan for Far North Queensland

 Estimated by the consultants, based on adaptations from similar studies such as HASESELL et al (2002)
Assumes a maximum visitation to the region in 2003 of 200,000visite (as attached in Section 4)
The results of this strategy are fully implemented and current market forecast being realised.
Source: Project team estimates, adapted.

We can also identify:

• economic impacts for construction (one off) and operational (ongoing) stages, using indicators such as output, income, value adding and employment generation;
• more comprehensive assessments, such Cost Benefit Analysis, though in park management situations the data is often not reliable enough to warrant the investment;
• flow on or secondary impacts, by multiplying visitor spend for a region or revenue generation from a specific proposal using an accepted tourism multiplier; and
• economic leakage caused by inefficiencies in the operating environment, using either a multiplier or a set of assumptions.

Financial analysis

We can quickly analyse the strengths, limitations and profitability of a business in order to provide an indication of its viability, opportunities and risks. The potential applications of this to an agency like Parks Victoria include:

• capacity building assistance that leads to stronger operators capable of delivering more
• independent assessment of options for licenses or leases
• independent assessment of capacity to pay fees, rent or other additional contribution
   

In this field of work, we can analyse weekly, monthly and annual financial reports and compare results with typical industry averages. We can analyse revenue streams as proportions of total revenue and profit, and we analyse costs as a proportion of revenue and profit.