Council approve funding for two new positions

We are very pleased to advise our members, that yesterday’s Council Meeting approved the motion to provide funding of $190K for create two new positions to manage

1. Business recovery support ($95,000)
2. Events development and coordination ($95,000)

Chamber President Nigel Ayling has been advocating for these positions since the fires, and he has received shire wide support from the other Chambers and Tourism groups. “We are very excited about this and the positive impact it will have one the shire”, he said.

Whilst the roles have not been set yet, they may include

Event Manager

• Work with other local tourism bodies and chambers to
• Create a number of new flagship events across the shire
• Build on the success of existing events such as Merimbula Eat, Eden Whale Festival, Cobargo Folk Festival, Bega Festival of the Face, just to name a few and increase visitation to these events
• Seek further grant funding to support these events and make the position self-sustaining
• Seek opportunities to host Conferences, Club Style events (Car Clubs, Rotary Clubs etc) and other major events (NRL Games etc) in our area

Business Recovery

• Work with local Chambers to establish their individual business and member requirements. Obviously, these will vary greatly from town to town with places like Cobargo, being more interested in physical rebuilding of assets, whilst tourist towns like Tathra, Merimbula and Pambula looking for other ways to stimulate their business
• Help businesses get establish online presences so they can reach a wider audience outside their local area, and take advantage of online sales
• Create and support shop local initiatives
• Help business diversify and be less dependent on seasonal trade
• Co-ordinate shire wide meetings and events to support business needs
• Provide administrative support services to local Chambers
• Establish a central point of communication for business information to be disseminated

We look forward to seeing how this plays out for our business community