Hervey Bay Gossip

If you’ve driven along the Esplanade lately you could be forgiven for thinking that tourist numbers are up in Hervey Bay compared to this time last year.

The caravan parks along the Esplanade are nearly full … there are some ‘No Vacancy’ signs appearing from time to time … and there are even some backpackers to be seen wandering around the shops at Torquay. But is all that just our imagination … maybe some wishful thinking?

Evidently not because places like the Emeraldene Inn & Eco-Lodge and the Shelly Bay Resort are all seeing an increase on bookings compared to the last two years.

That’s really encouraging because Hervey Bay is seeing more competition than ever from other whale watching centres. And while that competition may be increasing we’ve seen some new branding and marketing campaigns launched to get the Hervey Bay name out there to the people who want to get close to the whales.

Lets hope that those marketing campaigns go beyond the whales so that tourists understand that this is a great tourist spot at any time of the year.

It seems that Hervey Bay is about to feel some more pain from the rising Aussie dollar (rises that some economists suggest will go on for quite some time thanks to what economists call the “carry trade”) as stories begin to surface that two more large backpacker hostels are set to close their doors soon.

If reports that we have heard are correct one is already in receivership and the other will close simply because large numbers of backpackers aren’t coming to Hervey Bay any more and the hostel is losing money.

I must admit that my memory is a little vague here but wasn’t our much vaunted Water Park – that attraction at the bottom of Main Street that draws lots of people – supposed to be a major tourist attraction for Hervey Bay?

I guess tourism isn’t that important to us any more … either that or the Water Park wasn’t such a tourist attraction after all … because according Wide Bay Water, the body that runs the Water Park, they will soon begins closing it on weekdays and only opening it on weekends.

Maybe Wide Bay Water thinks that tourists only come to Hervey Bay on weekends during the off-season.

The announcement that the park is going to spend most of its time closed till next summer has already had some impact. The kiosk/cafe closed on Tuesday when the current operator decided that there was no point continuing in business at that location if the park was going to be closed.

Wide Bay Water’s decision to close the park is rather sad really. Hervey Bay needs all the open and operating tourist attractions it can get.

Update
Earlier this evening I had some discussions with Ms Maynes from Wide Bay Water and I urged them to join the conversation and post a response in the comments section. I’m pleased to say that they have done that and I urge you to read the comment section to see what the real position is going to be with the Water Park over the coming months.

In case you don’t see the comments as you read this in the general section of the Gossip this link will open the original post and the comments too.

And the bad news just keeps on coming for Hervey Bay this week.

An administrator has been appointed to control the affairs of the well-known tourist operator – the Fraser Island Company – and hopefully find a buyer. It’s been reported elsewhere that the Fraser Island Company owes creditors over $3 million dollars and those creditors include the Australian Tax Office and the Fraser Coast Regional Council.

Undoubtedly there will be some much smaller local creditors in the mix too and that will further damage the local economy.

The administrator is confident that a buyer will be found for the business but with so many Fraser Island tourists being lost to Rainbow Beach you would have to wonder whether that confidence will be rewarded.

The green 4WD buses of Fraser Island Company were once a common sight around town but I haven’t seen one around for some time and now that looks as though it was a sign of what was to come.

It was almost inevitable in the current economic climate so we should not be surprised by the announcement yesterday that the State Government was putting aside the plans to redevelop the Urangan Boat Harour.

The development, which was to add new marina berths, extra dry storage spaces and a number of new boat ramps, would have employed over 650 people during it’s construction stage.

Unfortunately none of that work will go ahead and the decision leaves one of developers … the Seymour Group … in a rather unenviable situation. They already own much of the marina which is said to be running at a loss and they have also spent 30 million dollars buying up leases that they needed to control for the development to go ahead.

The State government is said to remain committed to upgrading recreational boating facilities at the harbour and the Minister claims that a new pontoon is in the planning stages but when … or if … that will be built is open to conjecture.

And so Hervey Bay struggles on. We might have the resolve to make this town a great place to visit and there are lots of small operators doing all they can to make that happen but I doubt that individuals … or even small groups of like-minded individuals … have the financial resources or the resolve that it will take to drag us out of the malaise that we seem to be sinking into.

So it seems that despite all the money we pour into advertising the wonders of Hervey Bay we’re somehow missing the mark and being beaten by Rainbow Beach.

It’s hardly surprising that people are passing on Hervey Bay and heading for Rainbow instead. For years now the main complaint has been that there’s nothing to do in Hervey Bay apart from the whales and Fraser Island so perhaps it’s time that some of those tourist dollars were spent pointing out that there is much more to do in Hervey Bay than just see the whales.

Sadly though it seems that our marketing gurus can’t think beyond the obvious when it comes to promoting Hervey Bay and don’t want to do a great deal to even promote those attractions.

It says a lot when local accommodation operators have to do their own promotion but that’s what one group is doing and this banner out on the highway just before the Hervey Bay turnoff is one example of their efforts.

Yes, they’re pushing the whales too but they’re also emphasising other things that Hervey Bay has to offer tourists. So if a small group of what are basically marketing amateurs can do this then why can’t our paid experts do something similar?

Billboard advertising is a highly effective form of marketing … and plenty of other tourist destinations are using this form of marketing along the Bruce Highway but when was the last time you saw a billboard advertising Hervey Bay?

For quite some time now we’ve been hearing from Council and the local tourism board that tourism in Hervey Bay and the Fraser Coast has never been better.

The general manager of the Fraser Coast South Burnett Regional Tourism Board would have you believe that tourism to the region continues to grow. Councillor Noia claims that the loss of Jetsar has had no significant impact on tourism to the region.

That’s been at complete odds with what those working at the frontline of tourism have been saying and now it looks like those optimistic reports were just so much hot air.

It makes you wonder what the Council and the Board have been basing their figurees on when the latest report from Tourism Queensland shows quite clearly that tourism to the Fraser Coast Region for the year ended March 2010 is well down.

Domestic visitors are down by 12% … holiday visitors are down by 5% … intrastate visitors are down by 9% and interstate visitors are down by a whopping 28%.

So perhaps the Council and the Fraser Coast South Burnett Regional Tourism Board might care to explain why their claims of increased tourism to the region are not supported by the facts.

If you’re a tourism operator here in Hervey Bay … or rely on the tourism industry for part or all of your income … then the announcements regarding flight cutbacks coming from Qantas and Jetstar are enough to raise the stress levels a point or two.

But headlines in the online version of today’s Courier Mail like ”Virgin Blue Facing Oblivion” are just about guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. You can read the full story here. If the worse case scenario came about then there could be some very interesting times ahead for Hervey Bay.

A recurring theme I often see appearing around the Net is that backpackers find that there is nothing to do in Hervey Bay. I’ve never been quite sure where most of them got that idea from because there is plenty to do here in the Bay. Of course we could always have more things to do but we’re not really that short of things to entertain visitors.

That was confirmed for me yesterday when we put a visiting relative back on the plane. He’d arrived on Friday morning for a family get together and had managed to find the time to look around Hervey Bay while he was here.

His only complaint was that there was so much to do in Hervey Bay that he hadn’t been able to do everything in the few days that he was here. And just to drive home the point he listed around 10 different things that he wanted to do but had lacked the time.

So it seems that there really is plenty to do here in Hervey Bay if you’re prepared to get out and gather a few brochures and make a few enquiries.

 

Wow, it’s not even May and already humpback whales have been spotted off the NSW north coast and could even be on the eastern side of Fraser Island.

Perhaps the whale season will begin a little earlier than July here in Hervey Bay.

You can read the full story here