Part 1 - Shire of Ashburton

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Shire of Ashburton Tourism Strategy January 2011 Tom Price A modern and fully serviced town and the main commercial centre within the Shire. Tom Price is considered a picturesque town and when compared to other industrial towns of the Pilbara is visually highly attractive. However, its greatest strength in terms of tourism potential lies in its close proximity to the Karijini National Park and the town is the ideal base for those who wish to explore the natural wonders of Karijini. The Shire has an extensive town revitalisation plan for the town which will further enhance the tourism focal point positioning for the town. Paraburdoo As a general observation the town centre of Paraburdoo remains visually uninspiring with facilities built for functionality reflecting its direct links to local mining with little regard for visual appeal. The lack of a local visitor information service and range of visitor activities (tours and attractions) at Paraburdoo also inhibits its overall tourist attractiveness. Paraburdoo owes its existence to the mining interests of Pilbara Iron with the local resident population servicing the mines of Paraburdoo, Channar and Eastern Range referred to as the Greater Paraburdoo operation. The importance of Paraburdoo rests largely as a service centre for these mine operations and most importantly for tourism development, includes the major Paraburdoo regional airport (receiving some 24 direct Perth Qantas flights per week) and the range of supporting vehicle hire operators. The town is undergoing a town revitalisation process and this should work to enhance the visual appeal of the town. Ultimately, if the town is to seriously focus on tourism development then this must be driven by local industry and business operators in a concerted and cooperative effort. Onslow Originally established as a coastal fishing and pearling town Onslow has a long and interesting history. Today, the town attracts a small yet consistent number of “sun seeker” retirees during winter that tend to stay for extended periods enjoying the relaxed and quiet coastal lifestyles in ideal warm weather. The Mackerel Islands Resort utilises Onslow as its closest land base and is an important driver of holiday and leisure visitors to the region. Onslow has recently become the focus for investment by energy sector businesses with plans to become a major service centre for offshore energy projects. The Shire also has a revitalisation plan for the town which includes a range of major projects including the potential for a marina and major upgrade to the local airport facilities. Whilst these planned improvements offer many opportunities for tourism in the town there is also a danger these major resource projects will squeeze out the leisure traveller market by competing for the limited commercial accommodation capacity. Overall, the future for the town appears very positive and how the Shire and other local stakeholders manage this growth phase will determine the long term future of Onslow as a visitor destination. The challenge will be to successfully grow Onslow as a “town with a LNG plant, rather than a LNG town”. Pannawonica The town was established in 1970 and built specifically to house the workforce and families of the nearby Robe River Iron mines. In 2006, it reportedly had the highest median weekly income of any town in Australia, due to the high income of its mine workers. The town's facilities include a post office, library, supermarket, milk bar, tavern and hotel with motel style units, a small caravan and camping park, sportsmen's club, bank agencies and a service 29
Shire of Ashburton Tourism Strategy January 2011 station. Tourists are not actively promoted to except for the town’s major annual event ‐ the Robe River Rodeo which attracts around 1,500 people over a weekend in September. The Rodeo is the only event of its kind in the Pilbara and in its 15 th year, is well supported by the local community and pastoral properties, with competitors and visitors coming from across the State (www.pannawonicarodeo.com.au). 4.2 Shire Tourism Vision Vision To assist in the growth of a successful and vibrant tourism industry that is built upon a strong sense of local community pride and that integrates tourism product development and promotional activities across the Shire of Ashburton region in a well planned approach. Ultimately, tourism will achieve its full potential as a strategic growth sector of the economy, generating income, employment and investment for the benefit of the local communities of the Shire of Ashburton. 4.3 Shire Tourism Goals More specifically, to establish a successful and financially sustainable overnight visitor destination that will act as a base for visitors to explore the area’s unique attractions through participation in local tours or undertaking a range of suggested self drive itineraries. These activities will provide confidence for additional investment in tourism infrastructure. For tourism to gain its position as thriving economic sector of the Shire of Ashburton economy aggressive action is required in order to, - Increase tourism products, - Improve quality and value, - Enhance infrastructure that support tourism, - Improve visitor servicing in particular delivery of visitor information (website, information bays, brox) - Create new experiences that will attract visitors and encourage existing to stay longer, - Create a positive image of aboriginal tourism in the region. Following are the principal strategic objectives of the Shire to be achieved over the life of the five year visitor plan. For each objective one or more performance indicators have been detailed. These indicators are suggestions for measuring the effectiveness of each objective however it is acknowledged that accurately measuring some indicators can take significant resources and that some of these measures may be monitored in an informal manner, with the level of frequency deemed appropriate by stakeholders over the five year period. Goal ‐ To increase the awareness of the Shire’s major visitor destinations in key market sources. Measure ; Growth in the number of visitors to the Shire. Monitor annual visitor estimates from DEC National Parks, door counters to Visitor Centres, third party surveys including National and International Visitor Surveys. Goal ‐ To increase the total visitor expenditure within the Shire by increasing visitor numbers, length of stay and daily spend per visitor. Measure ; Growth in visitor expenditure within the Shire. Monitor estimates from third party surveys including National and International Visitor Surveys. 30
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Part 1 - Shire of Ashburton

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