Download pdf - Service Review Template PART 1 - Narrandera Shire - Service... · Service Review Template PART 1 ... Rob Blake – Finance and ... Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and Communications

Page 1 of 66

Service Review Template

PART 1 Service Details.

Review operating environment including cost recovery for services and extent of services and income

TRIM File No. Service Number 1

Service Title Visitor Information Services

Service / Function Description/Purpose

This review will focus on the visitor information services function of the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre. The service review is not a review of events or the other functions of the tourism and marketing department.

Service Group Tourism and Marketing Ledger /Project Numbers

0820

Category Internal % 10% External % 90%

Owner Directorate Executive Services

Review Project Leader

Andrew Brown

Economic Development and Tourism Manager

Narrandera Shire Council

ELT Sponsor

Judy Charlton

CEO

Narrandera Shire Council

Service Review Team Members

Andrew Brown, Economic Development and Tourism Manager

Liz Lawton, Visitor Information Centre Coordinator

Helen Ryan, Geographic Information Systems Officer

Craig Taylor, Administration Manager

Trent Cormie, Manager Development and Environmental Services

Warren Magnusson, Newell Motor Inn

Steering Group Members

Executive Leadership Team - Judy Charlton, Frank Dyrssen, Martin Hiscox, Gerry McConnell, Jock Wright (rotational).

Page 2 of 66

Scope of Review

Purpose and objectives To grow and develop the Visitor Information Centre service and identify options for different service levels and different ways to deliver the service.

Expected deliverables

A report with options and recommendations

An implementation plan.

Costing of projected service deliverables

Identified opportunities

More efficient and better use of building and assets.

Financial savings and/or increased income

Technology advancement in tourism sector

Identified limitations

Capital finances for any major asset changes

A high corporate and Council focus on roads, rates and rubbish at the expense of other community and visitor services such as tourism.

A limited understanding organisation-wide of the expansive role of the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre and that the considerable and proven benefits of tourism in general can result in a more engaged community and improved local amenity.

Resource requirements to undertake review

Pool car for undertaking case study field excursions.

PPE for all review members when outdoors

Weekend work – needed for a balanced analysis when reviewing Visitor Centres and the varying operational requirements of weekends compared to weekdays.

Budgetary requirements

Additional hours of employment will be required to enable the Visitor Information Centre Coordinator to participate in field excursions and to perform market research and reporting. This can be achieved within the current staffing budget.

Time in lieu arrangement to assist in undertaking field work and associated activities on weekends.

$700 cost of graphic design for final report.

Risks with this review

The review process may cause volunteers to feel scrutinised and possibly not valued resulting in reduced good will.

Negative perceptions internally and externally with negotiating possible shared services with Leeton

Page 3 of 66

Shire Council Visitor Information Centre.

Staff may become concerned about job security.

Linkages with other reviews

NSW Government Report on Local Government Reform - Fit for the Future

Narrandera Shire Organisational Review

Relevant CSP Theme, Outcome, Objective, Strategy

This report aligns with the Narrandera Shire Community Strategic Plan:-

Key Direction 2.2 - A thriving tourism sector

Objective 2.2.1 - An improved image of Narrandera for tourists

Action 1 - Upgrade the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre

This report also aligns with the Narrandera Product Development and Destination Marketing Strategy 2010

Action 120 & 121 – Upgrade the VIC and surrounding area (Interior and Exterior)

Is Council currently an owner of the service, a funder of the service, or an enabler of the service (as per service review decision model)

Council is currently the owner of the Visitor Information Centre service

Key Internal Stakeholders

Subject matter experts

Andrew Brown – Market analysis and reporting

Liz Lawton – Information services, visitor centre staffing and operations

Helen Ryan – Visitor service systems and information technology

Craig Taylor – Customer service

Rob Blake – Finance and capital works

Trent Cormie – Building, maintenance, planning and Arts Centre

Jenny Ryan – Service review secretary

Visitor Centre Staff and Volunteers

Page 4 of 66

Other internal stakeholders

Information Technology, Human Resources, Carpenter/Builder and Open Spaces and Recreation, Library Manager and Library Staff.

Icebreaker meeting date

Monday 10.30am

17 November 2014

Meeting schedule details

Fortnightly on Mondays

Meeting to be held in Council Chambers

At 2 month stage a progress update will be provided to the Executive Leadership Team.

Community Stakeholders

External stakeholders

Riverina Regional Tourism – Ms Sonia Casanova and Ms Jacqui Herriman, Project Officers.

RDA Riverina – Ms Marg Couch, Project Officer

Leeton Shire Council – Mr Peter Kennedy, Economic Development Manager

Griffith City Council – Mr Greg Lawrence, Economic Development Manager

Other Councils (Riverina and abroad)

Community Reference Group

United Services Union

Relevant 355 committees

John O’Brien Festival Committee – Ms Barbara Bryon

Community Advisory groups - titles / members

Narrandera Tourism Incorporated – Mr Murray Hall, Secretary

Narrandera Business Group – Ms Ann Black, Chairperson

Barellan Progress Association – Ms Louse Mulligan, President

Grong Grong Progress Association – Mr Bob Manning, President

Rotary Club - Mr Robert Norrie, Secretary

Lions Club - Mr Des Edwards, President

Soroptimists - Ms Bev Hughes, Secretary

Probus - Ms Judy Crowe, Secretary

Page 5 of 66

Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and Communications Plan

Process summary

The methodology for external (and 355) community stakeholder engagement will involve completion of a short survey sent to listed community service clubs and advisory groups followed by a face to face meeting with their elected representative. Stakeholders include:

Narrandera Tourism Incorporated – Mr Murray Hall, Secretary

Narrandera Business Group – Ms Ann Black, Chairperson

Barellan Progress Association – Ms Louse Mulligan, President

Grong Grong Progress Association – Mr Bob Manning, President

Rotary Club - Mr Robert Norrie, Secretary

Lions Club – Mr Des Edwards, President

Soroptimists – Ms Bev Hughes, Secretary

Probus – Ms Judy Crowe, Secretary

Community Reference Group

Arts and Community Centre Working Party – Ms Julie Briggs, Chairperson

John O’Brien Festival Organising Committee – Ms Barbara Bryon, Chairperson

The methodology for internal and external stakeholder engagement will involve face to face meetings conducted either by the project leader or an elected member of the service review team.

The engagement strategy will encompass:

ELT – Submission of Preliminary Service Review Form - Part 1

Service Review Team – Introductory meeting

VIC staff meeting

Volunteer workshop

Leeton Shire Council (Manager of Economic Development)

Griffith City Council (Manager of Economic Development)

Narrandera Library Staff

ELT – Progress update and briefing

Narrandera Shire Councillors – Workshop briefing. Proposed 17 February 2015

The United Services Union will be briefed by the service review sponsor on progressions relating to all respective service reviews.

Page 6 of 66

Council resolutions

Note any existing Council resolutions that are relevant for this review

15 April 2013 Ordinary Meeting of Council

Item 5.5 – Visitor Centre Redevelopment – Volunteer and Staff Workshop

Further to Council’s proposed expression of interest for a low interest loan through the Loan Infrastructure Renewal Scheme (LIRS) to redevelop the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre (NVIC), a report was submitted to Council in April 2013 presenting information on a workshop held with Visitor Centre staff and volunteers to discuss future plans for the centre including possible new income streams in line with LIRS requirements.

The report recommendation was:

That Council accept the information contained within the attached report with a view that the proposed elements and findings are incorporated into the review of the options for the future developments of the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre.

The following Amendment was Moved and Carried:

Resolution CM/RES 2422

That this report lay on the table to be returned to the 20 May Ordinary Meeting for further input from staff regarding costs associated with tourism activities.

20 May 2013 Ordinary Meeting of Council

5.2 Visitor Centre Redevelopment – Volunteer and Staff Workshop - Resubmission

As part of the report resubmission figures on Visitor Centre retail results, trends and staffing costs were provided in addition to detailed information on Tourism and Marketing Department roles and responsibilities. This information was deemed by Council as insufficient with further detailed financial information being requested on Visitor Centre operating costs.

The following resolution was made at the May Ordinary meeting of Council:


That Item 5.2 Visitor Centre Redevelopment Lay on Table to be married up with the past resolution to Item 5.5 of the April 2014 meeting which has been deferred for 12 months.

Page 7 of 66

20 May 2013 Ordinary Meeting of Council

2.1 – Divesting Commercial Premises – Information Kiosks.


1. That Council investigate divesting commercial premises which it owns in the Wade Ferrell Building, Twynam Street Narrandera.

2. That $20,000 of the proceeds are to be used to purchase technology to set up Visitor Information Kiosks at both Narrandera Library and Narrandera Airport.

Review Process and Timeline

Process summary

The review process will involve practical and theoretical information gathering with outcomes and key results reported and communicated to the steering committee with ultimate endorsement of the final report and recommendations by council.

Reporting at different stages of the review will be primarily written with some verbal progress reports provided to the review sponsor.

Agendas will be prepared and minutes taken at service review meetings to ensure factual recording of discussions and outcomes.

The task and timeline structure will enable all stakeholders to input into the process prior to the final report being delivered in March 2015.

Tasks and Timeline

Engage service review team members - 12 November 2014

Service review commencement - 17 November 2014

Commence field trips and market research - 21 November 2014

Progress report to service review team – 15 December 2014

2 month interim report available to ELT - 24 January 2015

Draft final report available by - 17 March 2015

ELT Meeting Approval of Review process

10 November 2014 Council Meeting Endorsement of process

December 2014

Review Start Date 17 November 2014 Review Report Date 17 March 2015

Page 8 of 66

PART 2 Information Gathering on current service / function

Service relationships

The Visitor Centre has a diverse physical and digital service relationship with external and internal clients.

TRAVELLING POPULATION

Most of the annual 23,143 visitors to the Centre are those travelling along the Newell Highway. More than a million vehicles are travelling the Newell Highway annually (Narrandera Traffic Study 2014).

Engagement with VICs results in 59% or more additional expenditure into the community being visited (or around $180 per adult visitor) on fuel, food and retail, accommodation and attraction services (See attachment 1 - Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

Narrandera’s primary market is Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964). Baby Boomers are characterised as travelling in Motorhomes or staying in local accommodation. This market generally utilises a physical VIC to gather travel information, with digital technology providing secondary support.

The caravan, motorhome and camping industry is the fastest growing domestic tourism sector in Australia and rural regional communities are the major beneficiaries. The industry is worth $6.5 billion nationally and on current trends RV travellers will increase by more than 60% over the next 10 years (RV Futures Forum 2013).

DIGITAL POPULATION

There are over 10,000 annual digital enquires recorded over the past 2 years at the NVIC. Visitor Centres have entered an era where the consumers want the correct information immediately and when adding social media to this, the digital population has become an important customer to be serviced.

INTERNAL CUSTOMERS OF COUNCIL

A time in motion study has recently indicated that Visitor Centre staff spend approximately 10% of their time preparing Council reports or supplying information to various Council departments. Information sought includes statistics on visitation, market information (visitor area of origin, characteristics) and retail activities.

The Centre is often used internally for advertising purposes due to its location. Council’s Road Safety Officer recently did a safety promotion utilising the Centre’s location to capture Newell highway travellers.

STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS

The Visitor Centre is operated by staff and volunteers. Volunteers not

Page 9 of 66

only help in effective service delivery, they are also ambassadors for Council and the community, spreading positive public relations through word of mouth advertising.

LOCAL BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITY SERVICE GROUPS

The Visitor Centre captures and funnels visitors and coach groups into the main business centre. The VIC is a focal point for information on Shire happenings particularly for local businesses and accommodation providers who require information on eatery opening hours and special events. Local businesses and community clubs are included in a local directory for ready provision of information to them.

During the 2012 floods the Visitor Centre became a key site for visitor and local information on which roads were open and what areas were safe to travel through.

LOCAL COMMUNITY

The Centre is utilised for information, as a community hub and to purchase retail items. Local community members use the Centre to prepare for Visiting Friends and Relatives visits (the Riverina’s primary market).

LOCAL PRODUCERS AND RETAILERS

Retail of local product that ‘Speaks to the Shire’. Local retailers utilise the Centre as a way to offer their wares and ‘test the market’. Cultural merchandise is popular with the Centre being a point of sale for local Aboriginal artefacts and artworks.

SATELLITE SERVICES

Staff care-take the Tiger Moth Museum with the opening hours being the same as the Visitor Centre. As a level 2 Centre the NVIC sponsors the Grong Grong General Store (Accredited Visitor Information Centre, Accreditation Level 3). The NVIC also oversees the Narrandera/Leeton airport and the Caltex information bays. Visitor Services, information, brochures and promotion are provided for the villages of Barellan and Grong Grong.

EVENTS/VISITOR SERVICES

Event promotion, planning and delivery of Council and community events occur through the NVIC. For instance the John O’Brien Festival Committee uses the NVIC as a base while staff and volunteers process ticket sales, and disseminate information to festival attendees. Event meetings are often held in the sitting area at the Visitor Centre.

Page 10 of 66

INDUSTRY AND MEDIA

The NVIC has a key role in developing industry relationships such as with National Parks and Wildlife NSW, tourism bodies (Riverina Regional Tourism, Destination NSW) and government agencies such as Regional Development Australia Riverina. The NVIC is also the site of media film shoots such as the Sydney Weekender, Prime and Win News. NVIC staff have been utilised as guides to sites and attractions during photo and film shoots.

Minimum service requirements

The NVIC’s AVIC Accreditation level 2 defines the existing minimum service requirements. The Centre must be open a minimum of 43 hours per week (Currently 52) and 363 days per year. Failure to comply may result in a reduction in accreditation level.

MINIMUM SERVICE OPERATION REQUIREMENTS:

Staff and volunteers must actively engage with people.

Staff and volunteers must have sound product knowledge and impart this clearly.

Staff and volunteers must keep abreast of both corporate and tourism related information.

Staff and volunteers must answer the phone within a reasonable timeframe.

Staff must check and respond to all enquiries received through the generic tourist centre email.

The use of digital media must contain the most current information and any external links must remain current.

Staff and volunteers must communicate respectfully with a variety of individuals of varying age groups, cultures and socio economic backgrounds.

Current outputs

The NVIC currently outputs vastly more than a traditional Visitor Information Centre. It houses the events function and contributes toward community and cultural development, tourism and economic development. These non-core functions dilute the NVICs ability to deliver high quality Visitor Services, which is its primary purpose.

The expansive role of the NVIC is exemplified through its current outputs:

Open 363 days a year to capture and funnel visitors.

Dissemination of information both of a physical and digital nature.

Events hub and processing of tickets and money.

Retail (including local produce and cultural items). Items range from general souvenirs such as stickers, post cards, pens, hats, coffee cups, and travel cups to cultural souvenirs, books, maps, drinks, chips, chocolates, lollies, Narrandera products

Page 11 of 66

locally made as well as Riverina products for example, Junee Chocolate factory).

Community directory and database management.

Directions assistance for travellers to other places.

Access to Narrandera’s ‘Big Things’ item, the Biggest Playable Guitar.

Eco-Tours combined with Aboriginal cultural talks.

Volunteer Town Tours with community groups and coach clubs.

Preparation and Dissemination of What’s On Calendar.

Restaurant Guide – provided to Accommodation houses.

Promoting accommodation, funnelling to the retail and business sector, attractions and experiences that encourage visitors to stop, experience, stay a while.

Upselling visitor experiences and other unique cultural experiences that make Narrandera a point of difference (Sandhills Artefacts, Wiradjuri Honour Wall).

Working with businesses and accommodation including maintaining an accommodation listing and eateries guide.

Collection of statistics.

Brochure management.

Updating of attraction flyers and brochures.

Providing information on cycle hire, providing maps and information relating to Bike and Hike.

Information and new resident packs.

Current outcomes

The NVIC as demonstrated delivers the following outcomes (See attachment 2 - VIC Operations Report):

23,143 annual visitors to the NVIC (equivalent of 61 NVIC visitors daily averaged over 4 years). Staff and volunteers capture and disseminate visitors into the town retail sector.

10,000 Visitor Service enquiries were responded to from the generic Visitor Centre email in 2013/14. Equivalent of 27 daily.

9,485 visitor phone calls in 2013/14. Equivalent of 26 daily.

2014/15 YTD 4604

150 Coach Groups were recorded in 2014 as coming in to the Centre. A further 150 + would stop and use the toilets. Many of the coaches are directed to the main street coach parking.

Promotes over 10 separate accommodation houses and over 60 attractions and experiences resulting in money being spent in the town. Face to face local knowledge provided.

Events – 165 community and visitor events listed in 2014 with

Page 12 of 66

over 35 directly involving the Events Officer for processing or coordinating including Australia Day, John O’Brien Festival, Narrandera Rod Run, Riverina Rush, Cavy Show, and LGAN Conference.

Retail - $127,458 over the past 5 years. $25,491 (annual average). This is a value-add to customer service and creates a revenue stream for Council. Over 60 various local retail items (including cultural) are purchased by the NVIC annually providing suppliers and producers with a revenue source.

Brochure Management – Over 150 brochures presented at the VIC covering accommodation, attractions and locations throughout Australia, but primarily NSW and the Riverina. National Touring Route publications such as the Newell Highway Guide are also available.

Town Tours – 17 conducted in 2014 and 13 YTD in 2015

Nature Tours – 26 conducted in 2014 and 6 YTD in 2015

Australian Tourism Data Warehouse – The National product listing facility features 84 Narrandera Shire attraction listings with another 23 ready for inclusion. Photos are also uploaded.

3 familiarisations conducted annually. Staff and volunteers visit local attractions, retail outlets and accommodation to increase product knowledge.

Local tourists and operators provided with monthly event What’s On Calendar.

Market Research and Statistics - Assistance with information gathering and reports provided to AVIC, Council and internal departments.

Management of Contact Data Sheets & Mailing Lists:

Businesses of the Narrandera Shire (220 listings) Community, Welfare and other Not for Profit Organisations (331 listings) Market Stallholders (227 listings) Event Organisers (37 listings) National Coach Operators Data Sheet (1210 listings)

Summary of Stakeholder Consultation Sessions

A number of internal and external consultation sessions were held with key stakeholders (See attachment 3 - Stakeholder list and consultation comments). Overarching topics included:

Location Do we need a physical centre Shared Service Delivery What the NVIC does well Ideas for the future Other Comments

A summary of comments is as follows:

Page 13 of 66

Visitor Information Centre Staff Consultation Session

Facilitator: Ms Helen Ryan, Service Review Member

The current location is the best location. It is in the best place to capture and funnel. It’s in the park, families can stop, children can play in the park and people don’t have to cross the highway to get to the Visitor Centre

There are more people researching before they get to Narrandera, but they still come into the VIC after doing their own research and come in and ask for local knowledge. The ‘local’ point of view is still valued

Sharing with Leeton would dilute the service. If Leeton were to promote Narrandera out of Leeton, or its operators spend days in each town, visitors would lose continuity and one Centre could dominate the other.

Customer service and information delivery frequently receives highly positive feedback.

Create a great efficiency by removing events from the NVIC building.

Improve management of online Visitor Services communications.

Refurbish and remodel the physical layout of the building.

If the Events Officer role shifted to Council Chambers, the focus of VIC staff and volunteers on delivering Visitor Services would increase.

Changing Centre opening hours from 9-5pm Monday to Saturday to 9:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Saturday would result in the loss of most funnelling of visitors into accommodation which occurs between 4:30pm to 5pm.

Volunteer and Casual Staff Consultation Session


The NVIC is positioned for the greatest capture opportunity in a one stop appealing precinct including playground, spacious park, toilets, ample parking and Tiger Moth.

The Visitor Centre is the public face of Narrandera. If it closed Narrandera would be reduced to a village like Grong Grong. As services are withdrawn, a town dies. The closure of the VIC would contribute significantly to the death of the town.

Volunteers shared their travel experiences, citing that many travellers are unwilling to try to find a park in the main street of a town to seek visitor information. If convenient parking is not provided travellers pass by.

Page 14 of 66

The Main Street is not an ideal location. Highway traffic bypasses it.

Much feedback received at the NVIC stating service is excellent.

The Visitor Centre is the hub of the town. Tourism is business.

Touch screen featuring iconic local images.

Theatrette or room promoting a unique aspect of the town.

Refurbish the VIC and toilets.

Make prices on items easier to read reducing queries at the counter about costs.

Remove the middle office structure which is not a good layout.

Any time closed means you’re not there to sell the town.

If the Events role worked out of Chambers, the person in that role would have the advantage of uninterrupted time.

Community Representatives Consultation Session


The existing location is ideal and provides necessary good access and a one stop shop for park, playground, toilets and Tiger Moth Museum.

Travellers are often retirement age and resistant to technology.

There’s a huge fault in the internet issue. A lot of people want to check on things in person. People come in and want the local reassurance.

If the Tiger Moth Museum got isolated from Visitor Centre staff that would be a real problem.

It was noted that there is no competition between online and face to face when it comes to Visitor Services, both need to be provided.

Leeton would need Narrandera as the gateway because Narrandera is on the highway.

One local cultural producer noted if the Visitor Centre wasn’t there, they wouldn’t get half the tourists they get to their attraction, and that the Narrandera Visitor Centre turns over four times the amount of what Leeton and Griffith do of the producer’s product.

Could locate the VIC across the road in the Arts and Community Centre building.

Page 15 of 66

A location in the main street would be a disaster.

Showcases local products.

The standard of local knowledge provided by staff and volunteers, which is highly sought after by visitors.

Generates support and income for other attractions and activities.

A number of those present felt that housing the Events Officer position in a different building would have the value of reducing confusion in relation to having a position based at the Visitor Centre that is not primarily focused on Visitor Services.

A new building is needed as the existing building is dated. It also doesn’t function well for the staff in it.

Make Narrandera’s digital Visitor Services a presence (Narrandera App, electronic guide). If technology can pick up where the Visitor Centre shuts the doors at 5pm it would be a good investment.

A uniform would be good, and name badges. Volunteers should also wear uniform.

‘Enormous amount of community opposition to having a coffee shop in the Centre’. Until recently you couldn’t buy coffee after certain hours Saturday or Sunday but Narrandera now has coffee shops that are open on those days.

A lot of places would give their right arm to be on a highway.

Service and Community Groups Consultation Session


Visitor Centre is in the right place, if you took it from the highway people wouldn’t visit it.

Yes, they need the physical location.

The need for a physical side of Visitor Services will stay level and the technological side will continue to grow.

The thought of shared services would make more sense if we were looking at that resulting in a higher level of service and the recognition of the unique location we have which is the gateway to Leeton and Griffith.

A coffee shop with Visitor Services operating out of it would be in competition with local businesses.

Grong Grong and Barellan could lose the service provided.

Being local gives personal knowledge.

Volunteers are beyond marvellous.

Page 16 of 66

Outlet for promotion of local produce and local businesses.

The ‘Go to’ place for information and contacts on pretty much anything in town, source of information for local people.

Provides a good service to establish the type of accommodation people are looking for and direct them accordingly.

Improve toilets, improve price marking of products, particularly on produce. Older people like to be able to pick things up and look at the price.

Change tactic, build or renovate the Centre. Go to companies (eg. wineries) to have a display at a cost. This would generate income to offset the costs of the building upgrade.

Offer a free wi-fi hot spot outside the Visitor Centre.

The busiest visitor times are just after 9am and 4:30pm to 5pm.

The question of reducing the AVIC accreditation and offering Visitor Services out of another business was raised. The response was given that this would be a message to the community that the Visitor Centre was about to close.

Should be all about pushing Narrandera, keeping it going. It’s the best place to live. Reduction in service would be death to the town.

Rather than dropping a level, the Centre needs to maintain its current level or go up a level (ie. to AVIC Level 1).

Field Trip Research

Visiting and contacting other VICs provided comparative data used for benchmarking of the service and gave insights into the positives and negatives of various modes of operation. This field research also enabled the review team to see how award winning centres like Dubbo deliver their Visitor Services.

Visitor Centres visited or contacted:

Junee, Temora, West Wyalong, Leeton, Coolamon, Griffith, Dubbo, Deniliquin and Hay.

It became apparent that there was no like for like service with the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre. Whilst accreditation levels were often the same each service was vastly different to Narrandera. Variables include population, visitation, service offerings, staffing requirements and locations.

See section on benchmarking for full details.

Current levels of service

Comparing Visitor Services staffing hours against opening hours the NVIC’s current Visitor Services resourcing levels are average when rated against other regional centres (See section on benchmarking).

Page 17 of 66

The standard of service at the NVIC is satisfactory, but impacted by the significant time spent on events.

Events accounts for 40% of the entire resourcing at the Visitor Centre and the flow on effect is that other staff who are required to service visitors are instead caught up in event administration and processing. The event position also draws in additional bodies to deliver events creating a hive of activity, but one which affects the Visitor Service delivery.

Breakdown of Service Levels (High, Medium or Low):

Visitor Services – Low Service Delivery

Events – High Service Delivery

Customer Service – Medium Service Delivery (High level when not impeded by non-core Visitor Services tasks)

Tours – Medium Service Delivery

Retail – High Service Delivery

Brochure Management – Medium Service Delivery

Statistics and Database Management – Low Service Delivery

Use of Technology – Low Service Delivery

Community Engagement – High Service Delivery

Satellite Information Bay Services – Tiger Moth/Airport/Villages – Medium to High

Industry relationships (Other VICs and accommodation providers) – High Level Service Delivery

Booking/ticketing service – Low Service Delivery (Currently no online option)

Org structure

VIC staff and volunteers are storytellers who engage visitors, spark their imagination and inspire them to explore the destination.

Reporting Structure – Narrandera Visitor Centre

Economic Development & Tourism Manager (EDTM)

Visitor Centre Coordinator Events & Visitor Services Officer

(Job Share)

Visitor Services & Ecotourism Officer Visitor Centre Casuals

Page 18 of 66

N.B – this is not the Economic Development unit’s organisational chart. It is the existing Narrandera Visitor Centre reporting structure. (See attachment 4 for VIC staffing structure).

Volunteers

The Visitor Centre is also resourced by 14 volunteers. The volunteers are the responsibility of the Visitor Centre Coordinator.

They contribute over 2500 hours (7 hours per fortnight) each year.

Rostering

Weekends are resourced between two of the permanent staff working Saturdays on an alternating basis and through use of a casual on Sundays.

# The EDTM is based at Chambers and does not directly contribute to Visitor Services.

NVIC Structure Prior to 2011

Visitor Services Officer 35 hours / week Eco-Tourism Officer * 25 hours / week Volunteer & Retail Coordinator 21 hours / week Visitor Services Casual (Sundays) 4 hours / week Casual ((Relief, School holidays, Weekends) 7.5 hours / week

Total staffing hours 92.5 hours / week

*Ecotourism Officer contribution to Visitor Services was minimal with the position being part of the Elsa Dixon Grant Funding Program and focussed on promotion of natural and cultural heritage.

NVIC Structure Post 2011

In 2011, the Narrandera Shire Visitor Services and Marketing and Events divisions of the (now superseded) Strategic Planning and Organisation Development Department underwent a structural re-organisation. The most significant change was locating the events function at the Visitor Centre to assist in resourcing the 363 day a year operation. As the events function has grown the negative impact on Visitor Services has become apparent necessitating a relocation of this function back to the Council Chambers.

Events & Visitor Services (Job Share) 39 hours / week Visitor Services & Eco-Tourism Officer 25 hours / week Centre Co-ordinator 28 hours/ week Visitor Services Casual (Sundays) 4 hours / week

Page 19 of 66

Casual (Relief, School holidays, Weekends) 9 hours / week

Total staffing hours 105 hours / week

The following two options are presented for different models of service delivery:

Option 1 – NVIC opens 52 hours per week

9am-5pm Monday to Saturday

10am-2pm Sunday


9.30am-4.30pm Monday to Saturday

10am-2pm Sunday

Option 1 - Proposed NVIC structure 2015

Resourcing based on a 7 hour working day Monday to Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday

Visitor Services Officer 28 hours / week Centre Co-ordinator 28 hours / week Events Officer* 3.5 hours/ week Visitor Services Casual (Sundays) 4 hours / week Casual (Relief, School holidays, Weekends) 7 hours / week


*Events Officer – To be located at Chambers 31.5 hours / week working alternate Saturdays at the NVIC

Option 1 - Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 3.25% with the NVIC open 52 hours per week.

Option 2 - Proposed NVIC structure 2015

Resourcing based on a 6 hour working day Monday to Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday



Option 2 - Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 7% with the NVIC open 45 hours per week.

Page 20 of 66

*Events Officer position is 35 hours per week broken down as 31.5 hours at the Chambers and 3.5 per week at the NVIC.

Service satisfaction

According to customer surveys, the Visitor Centre has a high customer service rating. In 2014 85% rated the service as excellent and 15% rated it as very good.

Service satisfaction levels (high, medium or low) were obtained through the varying consultation sessions held as part of the review process and based on observations and feedback received at the NVIC over the past 12 months.

Visitors – Highly Satisfied

Community members – Highly Satisfied

Community Service Clubs – Highly Satisfied

Accommodation Providers – Medium Satisfied

Retail Sector – Medium Satisfied

Local producers – Highly Satisfied

Internal customers – Highly Satisfied

Food Sector (Local Eateries) - Unknown

Although respondents in the consultation sessions inferred they were satisfied with the existing service many comments were made regarding necessary improvements (See attachment 3 - Stakeholder list and consultation comments).

Service utilisation

The Centre is directly utilised primarily by visitors and to a lesser extent community members.

Indirect utilisation occurs through NVIC outcomes (Visitor information converting to use of local businesses, accommodation etc.)

It also has a key role in servicing Council internal clients for various information or statistics.

Visitors – Highly Utilise

Community members – Medium Utilise

Community Service Clubs – Medium Utilise

Local producers – Medium Utilise

Accommodation providers – Highly Utilise

Food sector – Medium Utilise

Retail sector – Medium Utilise

Internal clients – Highly Utilise

Page 21 of 66

History of service

The Visitor Information Centre is understood to have been located at 143 East Street, Narrandera under the guidance of Mr Dan Clarke. At some point in time (approximately 35 years ago) the current VIC was purpose built at its current location at the intersection of Cadell Street, Narrandera and Bolton Street, Narrandera.

The building is the original, but has undergone minor superficial alterations (Exterior and interior painted, air conditioning, display hardware fit-out).

Existing constraints

The following constraints have been determined by the review team, staff, volunteers, community members, and community service clubs inputting into the Service Review:

The building is outdated and in need of revitalising

Signage is inadequate

There is a lack of space for additional displays and infrastructure

There is no dedicated staff area for respite or meetings

There are security implications with the existing circular design

Physical layout of the existing building (with central office not an acceptable location

Office layout is not conducive to best customer service or to highest work efficiency for Events Officer due to interruptions

Bland appearance both internally and externally of existing structure

Lack of quality retail space and display hardware

Relative isolation of the structure which could pose a risk to staff and volunteers

The public amenities at the rear of the structure are very outdated in both design and appearance

A lack of budget for necessary large scale capital works or minor capital works (display fit-out)

Volunteers cannot access and use computers to perform tasks

There is no area for visitor internet and self service

Current proposals

There are no current proposals relating to development of the building however architectural drawings for completely redeveloping the Visitor Information Centre were created in 2010.

A recommendation in 2011 by Linda Hailey (Business Analyst) proposed construction of an internal wall to create a staff area and meeting space while maximising wall areas for retail and promotion.

Council Resolution CM/RES 2462 requests investigation of information kiosks for the Airport and library. This is covered in the VIC Operations Report (See attachment 2).

Page 22 of 66

Corporate plans

The successful operation of the NVIC aligns with the following Narrandera Shire Corporate Plans:

Narrandera Shire Community Strategic Plan 2012-2030

Narrandera Product Development & Destination Marketing Strategy 2010

Narrandera Economic Development Strategy 2012

Narrandera Local Arts Strategy

It also aligns with the following external regional and national plans:

Riverina Destination Management Plan

NSW Visitor Economy Report

RDA Riverina – Regional Development Plan 2015-16

Policies & procedures

The NVIC conforms with:

All adopted Narrandera Shire Council policies and procedures

Workplace Health and Safety legislation

The Narrandera Visitor Centre has a Standard Operating Procedure Manual which covers the following protocols and procedures:

See attachment 5 – NVIC Standard Operating Procedures.

Current and proposed budgets

The following financials have been compiled with two options being presented for different models of service delivery:

Option 1 – NVIC opens 52 hours per week (existing hours)


NVIC Building and Centre Operations

Expenditure

2013/14 Actual $80,746.23

2013/14 Budget $81,819

2014/15 Budget $74,383

Original 2015/16 Budget $74,383

Option 1 2015/16 $74,383

Option 2 2015/16 $70,383*

*Reduction of $4,000 in Security, Building and Maintenance, Administration Costs (Photocopying and Printing) and Volunteer Expenses.

Page 23 of 66

N.B - The NVIC Building and Operations budget was reduced by 9.1% in 2014/15 which is being carried through to 2015/16 with no CPI.

Option 1 – No change (9.1% efficiency since 2013/14)

Option 2 – 5.38% efficiency (14% since 2013/14)

NVIC Retail Management

Expenditure Income

Budget Budget Net Profit

2013/14 $56,100 $82,798 $26,698

2014/15 $51,100 $76,950 $25,850

Original 2015/16 $51,100 $75,000 $23,900

Option 1 2015/16 $41,100 $70,000 $28,900

Option 2 2015/16 $40,000 $66,000 $26,000

Option 1 – Retail expenditure budget reduced by 19.5% in 2015/16 with an increase in forecasted net profit to $28,900 (from $23,900) which is a 17.3% profitability increase.

Option 2 – Retail expenditure budget reduced by 12% in 2015/16 with an increase in forecasted net profit to $26,000 (from $23,900) which is a 8.8% profitability increase.

N.B - This will be achieved through increased mark up and innovative retail management and presentation.

NVIC Visitor Services Staffing Costs

Budget Casual Permanent Total

2013/14 $27,842.34 $152,674.91 $180,517.24

2014/15 $24,329.57 $172,727.89 $197,057.46

Original 2015/16 $24,769.19 $179,901.96 $204,671.16

Option 1 2015/16 $21,094.24 $176,906.99 $198,001.23

Option 2 2015/16 $19,256.77 $171,143.22 $190,399.99

Option 1 - Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 3.25% with the NVIC open 52 hours per week.

Page 24 of 66

Option 2 - Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 7% with the NVIC open 45 hours per week.

Total operating budget not including budgeted retail net profit

Total 2013/14 Operating Budget: $262,336.24


Total Original 2015/16 Operating Budget: $279,054.16

Option 1 - Total 2015/16 Operating Budget: $272,384.16


Total operating budget including budgeted retail net profit:






Option 1 – With the NVIC open 52 hours and efficiencies being applied the total reduction in NVIC operating costs in 2015/16 is $11,669.84 which is a direct 4.57% operating efficiency.


N.B – Annual increases to the operating budget (including staffing budget) are largely attributable to CPI and staff incremental salary advancements in line with Council’s performance management system which is evidenced in the 2013/14 to 2014/15 budget increase. Without annual CPI increases the saving would be higher.

Average operating costs per VIC in Australia range up $300,000 plus, annually (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

See attachment 6 - Current and Proposed Operating Budgets.

Funding sources

The Narrandera Visitor Centre is financed under Council’s annual operating budget.

Visitor Centres and associated Visitor Services are not designed to be a source of operational revenue, but are intended to provide indirect economic growth for the respective town.

Key Income Drivers - Revenue sourced from sale of retail items. This

Page 25 of 66

has totalled $127,458 net profit over the past 5 years.

Service delivery (Physical and Digital) and location

The current mode of delivery is face to face customer service, internet, answering of phones and physical provision of brochures and information to satellite locations and other Visitor Centres located along the Newell Highway (primarily in NSW). It is also the site of the big playable guitar.

The charter is that the customer is the priority at all times, but this is not always being achieved. The system is that the staffer/volunteer approaches the customer to offer assistance rather than waiting to be asked to help.

There is an existing hierarchy at the Centre with servicing visitors. The volunteers are the first point of call, followed by the Visitor Services and Ecotourism Officer, then the Events Officer followed by the Visitor Centre Coordinator. This model is not effective with the Events Officer needing to be focussed on administration and the Centre Coordinator a more logical choice to be the second in line.

Primary Service Delivery Location

Narrandera Visitor Information Centre (AVIC 2)

Cadell Street, Narrandera NSW

Secondary (Satellite) Service Delivery Locations

Grong Grong General Store (AVIC 3)

34, Junee Street, Grong Grong NSW

Narrandera/Leeton Airport (Information Bay)

6 km northwest of Narrandera, Irrigation Way

Caltex Service Station (Information Bay)

16321 Sturt Highway, Gillenbah, NSW 2700

The Demand for a Physical Visitor Information Centre

Australia has over 460 accredited VICs servicing millions of visitors each year. Over 80% of accredited VICs are run by Local Government, with most others having some kind of Council support (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

The NVIC is an integral part of Narrandera Shire’s tourism infrastructure, providing the communication link between the locality, the tourist trade, the business precinct and the visitor. Visitors are welcomed to the area and made aware of the area’s products and services. Information services support

Page 26 of 66

the area’s marketing and promotion, and provide a direct service to the tourism trade.

As a key point of distribution once the visitor has arrived, VICs have a capacity unrivalled in their region to disperse visitor expenditure, increase yield and inspire visitors to re-visit and recommend the destination (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

Capture and funnel is utilised to encourage transitory travellers to spend more time in Narrandera. The NVIC attracts and secures repeat business through quality customer experience acting as the shopfront to Narrandera.

Narrandera’s primary market is the touring and highway travellers (NSC Product Development and Destination Marketing Strategy 2011), which consists heavily of the lucrative, large and active Baby Boomers that utilise a physical centre to complement their digital information gathering.

There are numerous studies that evidence the economic and social benefits that a Visitor Centre brings to the whole community (e.g. employment, information for residents, community hubs, support during crises, industry training and support).

It has been found that the presence of a physical centre in a prominent location increases uptake of local goods and services by travellers by influencing visitor behaviour. The report prepared by Greenhill Research and Planning in 2011 showed that:

83% of VIC patrons participated in additional activities;

72% of VIC patrons increased their length of stay;

22% spent additional nights in the area and 27% spend additional nights elsewhere;

59% of VIC patrons stated that the additional activities or time resulting from their visit to a VIC had resulted in additional expenditure that they hadn’t planned prior to visiting.

These studies support the outcomes and experiences of the NVIC.

The Visitor Economy is a significant industry for Narrandera Shire.

The Shire attracts over 80,000 domestic overnight visitors per year, with these visitors staying 145,000 nights and contributing more than $20 million per year to the local economy (Tourism Australia 2011).

Direct $$ spend and the multiplier effect. The money

invested into Narrandera Shire’s local economy by visitors circulates throughout that economy several times, providing an ongoing economic impact that would disappear without tourism.

Enhanced community amenity. In many cases tourism has

provided an economic argument for conservation,

Page 27 of 66

preservation and restoration of natural and built resources.

Visitors help pay for infrastructure and services from which everyone benefits. It is true that tourism requires an additional investment, but that investment pays off each and every day for Narrandera Shire’s local residents.

Tourism acts as a shop window for the lifestyle of the area. It

is increasingly common for people who visit and who are impressed with the area to return as residents. Some visitors decide to relocate to Narrandera Shire and purchase a home. Other visitors invest in properties and/or second homes.

Provides a direct link to market (eg RVs or Visiting Friends

and Relatives).

Intangible, but powerful benefits of having a physical space housing Visitor Services include:

Enhanced community pride and engagement and the resulting beneficial activity this generates in the Shire.

The use of volunteers and the role the Centre plays in supporting events and projects has engendered strong community involvement with tourism outcomes for the town.

The success of accredited VICs in maintaining and enhancing their relevance and having an edge over technology depends on several factors. These include:

Their ability to ensure a visitor’s experience with a VIC is unforgettable and the service unparalleled. With the plethora of information online, visitors have to sift to find information they can trust and the inspiration for what to see and do in a destination or on their journey.

VICs have the opportunity to engage visitors of all ages both on and off-line and maintain a clear point of difference from other information providers.

They can do this by delivering accurate, timely and objective information in a way that is convenient and personalised to a visitor’s needs, is easily digested, and can be instantly booked or actioned.

While information is increasingly sourced online, information provided by VICs is regarded as authoritative and unbiased. This type of information may be used to supplement information obtained online that may be perceived as biased, inaccurate or out of date enabling visitors to speak directly with passionate, knowledgeable locals.

Staff and volunteers can help visitors gather information and inspire them with insights and stories to spend time and money in the region and connect with other VICs on their

Page 28 of 66

journey (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

VICs’ use of technology in providing information is only a part of what they offer. It is essential however, as they can no longer simply offer a 9am to 5pm service.

By the VICs working with their Regional Tourist Organisations (RTOs) to supply information online, visitors can access information at any time prior to arriving and when in the region. Therefore VICs have a role in meeting the needs of visitors who seek only digital content.

Digital Technology and Visitor Services

A 2013 study into the behaviour of domestic visitors showed that Visitor Information Centres ranked third behind the internet and “previous visits” as sources of all tourism information*, with an annual shift of 2% to internet and mobile technology. The report found that the role of VICs in supporting technology remained important as a source of pre-visit information (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

Visitors are increasingly using the internet and mobile devices for travel planning and bookings. Smartphone penetration amongst Australian adults is now at 88% (up 12% year on year), and projected to reach 93% by the end of 2014 (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

On-line and face-to-face Visitor Services work together to provide an enhanced service. The majority of visitors to the NVIC carry smart phones and tablets but still ask for travel advice, print literature, and personalised local knowledge of what they can see and do in Narrandera. A friendly face and warm welcome complement information visitors obtain electronically prior to visiting.

At the moment visitors still want print, either because they don't trust the technology, feel that print is more convenient or the digital version of the leaflet doesn't contain the right information.

The emergence of digital technology must be embraced by the NVIC to assist in Visitor Services delivery. Developing a Narrandera Visitor App that visitors to the Centre are encouraged to download would effectively stimulate visitors about the shire’s attractions and services.

*Use of a Smart Device App must be promoted and a Visitor Centre is an ideal location to support this.

Tourism Touchscreens and Internet Kiosks

Council requested that research be undertaken regarding the practicality of securing and installing information touchscreens and kiosks to assist with Visitor Services in the Narrandera Library and/or the Leeton/Narrandera Airport.

Page 29 of 66

The initial cost to place furnished professional information kiosks at the Library and Airport (minimum 5-year contract) is $41,790. This does not include furniture and fit-out.

The initial cost to place screens (minimum 3-year contract) is $15,470. This does not include furniture and fit-out.

For the touchscreens to be effective they require advertisers to take out paid space. This was one of the failings of the first touchscreens located at the NVIC in 2009. There were limited advertisers (1) that paid to be on the touchscreen doing our diversity in attractions a disservice.

Tourism Touchscreens were removed from the Centre in 2012 due to cost and ineffectiveness. The prevalence of smart devices means that Tourism Touchscreens are no longer the preferred technology for digital tourism information services. Some regions still utilise touchscreens, but primarily in areas with unreliable internet services. With smart devices dominating the market, the convenience and cost effectiveness of internet access has rendered the tourism touchscreen technology and its associated costs unviable.

See attachment 7 – Costing for Professional Internet Kiosk

The following resources would assist visitors and potential visitors:

Creating a Visitor App promoting attractions and services

Offering free Wi-Fi and installing a basic Internet Kiosk (desk, chair, free internet access) to enable visitors to self-help

These will be far more cost-effective and beneficial to the shire’s service delivery and can be applied at the NVIC, Library and Airport.

Location options - Should the NVIC stay in its existing location or relocate?

1. Existing location

The NVIC is located on the Newell Highway, situated in an expansive park with picnic and BBQ facilities, a four‐star rated playground, public toilets and within a developing cultural precinct that links the Tiger Moth Display, the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre, the Parkside Cottage Museum, the Wiradjuri Honour Wall and the proposed Chinese Moon Gate. The NVIC also has a direct line of vision down Bolton Street with a pedestrian blister to assist in channelling visitors across the highway to the business precinct.

It was recently recommended in the National VIC Strategic Directions Paper 2014 that VIC operators need to:

“..review VIC locations to ensure they are sited in high visitor traffic areas, with highly visible building and directional signage”.

More than 1,500,000 vehicles pass through Gillenbah annually travelling the Newell Highway and past the NVIC (Narrandera

Page 30 of 66

Traffic Counter 2014).

A core activity of a Visitor Information Centre is to “capture and funnel” visitors. That is, to capture them off a highway for example, and funnel them to core local attractions, experiences and services.

The current location of the NVIC is optimally situated to allow Newell Highway travellers and those coming off the Sturt Highway, easy access to visitor information, toilet amenities, souvenirs and basic refreshments. This is the “capture”. Staff and volunteers then work to maximise the visitor’s stay in Narrandera (“funnel”) by increasing their awareness of local visitor experiences, and provide reliable information about accommodation and other goods and services.

Length of stay is also increased through provision of information on short trips to surrounding towns. The highway location means that staff members are able to motivate visitors to walk to East Street to eat and shop. A major advantage is the parallel parking available park-side near the VIC. Many travellers will accept the encouragement to stretch their legs with a brief walk to reach the town’s business precinct.

The current positioning provides a significant springboard to tourism and the Visitor Economy for Narrandera and its surrounds. It also delivers a distinct competitive advantage for the NVIC’s future standing as a Gateway Centre for this region.

It is understood that there could be a NSW Government move for Regional Tourist Organisations to support Gateway VICs in future with up to three per region supported. Narrandera VIC is ideally located to be a Gateway VIC contender.

This is occurring in Victoria and might equally apply to NSW.

2. Relocating the Visitor Centre to East Street

This option has been canvassed a number of times over the years, but its success is predicated on the assumption that Newell Highway travellers will of their own accord come into the main street off the highway. Staff have found that most visitors to the NVIC are transitory and without being positioned on the highway to prompt them to stop will result in them passing by. Reviews of other regional VICs that have moved out of the main street (example Temora) support this view. It is anticipated that if the NVIC were moved from the highway numbers to the Centre would be in the order of 50% less than existing visitation. It has been found that CBD works best for large centres (regional cities) which are destinations. Towns which are reliant on highway traffic are best served by gateway centres (Urban Enterprise 2013).

Page 31 of 66

Relocating the Centre would also:

Pose inconvenience to the traveller and also to the local, eg: negative impact on existing easy access to parking, and parking availability.

Diminish core service output especially in visitor numbers and the Centre’s retail business and ability to promote and on-sell local produce.

Come with considerable extra costs associated with the initial purchase, furnishing and fit out of a new centre (to BCA standards). The development of a feasibility study and business plan alone would be a costly exercise.

Narrandera Shire Council on behalf of its residents, businesses and communities, would be spending a considerable amount to achieve a considerably curtailed result.

Strong community opposition exists to a shift into East Street. This was evidenced at all of the consultation sessions where the existing location was seen as one of the best offerings the NVIC has compared to other Visitor Centres in NSW.

The limited parking in East Street will mean that most will still park along-side the Narrandera Park, use public amenities, but have little motivation to explore the CBD.

The promise of information may not be enough.

The costs associated with re-location to an East Street shop-front, is unlikely to be an effective rationalisation. Costs associated with re-location, renovation or refurbishment and fit-out of another building would be substantial.

Visitor confusion and main street congestion could be an unintended consequence of moving the VIC into East Street. Should cars towing caravans drive into East Street following directions to an “I” signed VIC and find no parking, they are then faced with driving further seeking parking or driving around the block to return to the park. Many will just drive on.

3. Shared function with the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre (A&CC) on the Newell Highway

Co-locating Visitor Services and a community cultural space occurred at the Up-to-Date Store in Coolamon. The Visitor Services element has since ceased to operate.

In a 6-month trial in Wagga Wagga recently, Visitor Services was moved from the Visitor Centre in Tarcutta Street to the Civic Centre and Art Gallery building. The trial failed to deliver the expected range of efficiencies and was unpopular with locals and visitors. The Wagga Wagga VIC has now reopened in its original Tarcutta Street location. The cost of this trial is unclear. (See attachment 8 – Wagga VIC

Page 32 of 66

Article).

The below segment addresses the possibilities and perceived constraints of relocation to the A&CC, however, the recent announcement of funding for development of the Arts and Community Centre now precludes a joint service option as the application does not allow for shared service delivery and the funding agreement cannot legally be breached to achieve this outcome.

Re-location to the A&CC would retain the advantage of available parking along the park-side of the highway, in particular, the availability of parking for vehicles towing caravans. It would also, if able to be provided at the current level, retain the core function of a VIC – to capture and funnel visitors into the CBD and to other local and regional tourism experiences and attractions.

This option however, would need to meet two challenges. The first is Council’s commitment to the building’s agreed purpose as an Arts and Community Centre negotiated with the community and recorded in NSC Community Strategic Plan – 2012-2030 for which the A&CC was purchased and is being developed by Council, in consultation with a community committee. Recent grant funding to develop the building as an Arts and Community Centre makes this challenge alone almost impossible to overcome. The second involves the limitations imposed by the size and layout of the building.

Adding Visitor Information Services to the function of the building could damage irrevocably the contract Council has entered into with the community to support the development of an arts and cultural centre. It is very likely that engagement from those who would commit to developing arts activity at the centre would cease to exist.

The second point - the challenge posed by the size of the building, also relates to the above in that the sheer demand on space created by the addition of Visitor Services would overwhelm the public space, and certainly reduce the capacity of the A&CC to provide a home to arts and cultural activity.

The housing of Visitor Services staff, volunteers and associated outdoor and indoor signage, furniture, equipment and fittings would require either substantial extensions to the rear of building, or if the retail function is retained, would use more than fifty percent of the building. This would leave only one small room to be used for arts and cultural pursuits, a room that would have to be accessed via the retail store/Information Centre.

Furthermore small rural regional communities do not need their community cultural spaces (halls, theatres, heritage buildings, etc) to be open 7 days per week. They are opened as required eg: to host exhibitions, functions and workshops. Under a good committee with solid terms of reference, a

Page 33 of 66

vibrant program of events and other uses can operate out the centre without it being resourced and staffed by Council employees.

Space limitations would mean that there would be no opportunity to generate revenue via sale of merchandise. There is also very limited storage space in the building. In order for the Masonic building, now the Arts & Community Centre, to house an Events Officer, a Visitor Services Manager and volunteers on a daily basis a new office space would need to be constructed at the rear of the building, along with substantial storage space which could cater for storage of artworks and equipment such as chairs and tables for the Arts Centre as well as promotional banners, and other events related items and brochures.

There is limited space also to provide public toilet amenities. Those planned for the Arts and Community Centre will be adequate for its operation as an arts centre, however may become inadequate if Visitor Services are incorporated into the building. Significant risk management could also then be required.

Housing Visitor Services in the Arts and Community Centre would increase the visitation to any exhibitions held at the A&CC, however would also draw people intent on getting visitor information into the building. It is then likely they would use the amenities provided. Having the building open to non-art traffic seven days a week would then make risk management difficult for volunteers or artists for example who were rehearsing, or setting up an exhibition.

4. Relocate the service with another business becoming a level 3 Centre

Examples would be the existing arrangement at the Caltex Service Station in Gillenbah where there is a stand with brochures, but the service station is the dominant business.

This would result in a low level form of Visitor Services delivery.

Loss of ability to capture and funnel to the Narrandera business centre.

Satellite services (Airport information bay, Caltex and Grong Grong AVIC 3) would be lost due to these requiring a Level 2 Accredited Centre to act as overseer.

The Tiger Moth Museum would need to be closed, or fall to being opened when possible by volunteers, due to the loss of the caretaking role of the NVIC staff.

5. The Gateway and Satellite Approach

Page 34 of 66

Narrandera’s location on the cross-roads of the Newell and Sturt Highways and in the heart of the Riverina, offers a very real and sensible opportunity to position itself as an important Gateway Centre for the region.

The Gateway and Satellite approach to VICs provides the opportunity to deliver information services across a broader area which provides high quality services, consistent and streamlined information.

It is a reasonable supposition that the State Government merits this approach. As such, it would be judicious that Council gets on the front foot to strategically place itself as a model that would attract governmental (and corporate) buy-in.

6. Future Plans and the NVIC Redevelopment

An Independent Feasibility Study would need to examine how Narrandera would position itself as a regional centre with increased financial revenue and a cohesive range of visitor information delivery platforms that would increase visitor numbers and visitor dispersal in the Narrandera Shire and the region.

Areas for consideration would include:

Visitor Information Centre (upgrade to Accreditation Level 1)

Establishment/management of satellite centres

Home for industry and tourism associations (paid hosting of displays such as Agri-Australis, local wineries, regional meeting hub for associations such as RRT)

Retail space (expansion for high turnover items)

Showcase space (cultural, historic, local business, arts or producers on a monthly rotational basis)

Allied businesses or associations space (National Parks and Wildlife)

Coffee shop (tender, short term lease to pre-established local business under a satellite methodology where visitors are directed to their larger shop for the full experience, example ‘coffee shots’ similar to a wine tasting)

Interactive Experience (hazelnut demonstration)

Specialist services (Accommodation booking service, packaged experiences)

Page 35 of 66

Site for packaging itineraries and package development

Overview of Digital services potential including digital retail, booking services and event ticket sales

Hosted paid coach group bundled tours (of the Visitor Centre offerings and then they go on to the remaining packaged offerings)

Expanded parking facility

Interactive theatrette

Develop the Centre so it has a greater connection with the Narrandera Park oval (eg creation of a sitting area overlooking the park and oval)

Recycled environmentally friendly construction methods and materials (eg solar powered Centre)

Employees / contractors

The Centre is staffed and operated by paid Council employees and by volunteers.

Resourcing of the Centre is achieved through a staff roster prepared every month.

Volunteers are allocated shifts through a fortnightly roster.

Resource usage

Four computers

Colour copier

Security monitoring system and camera

Internet access

TRIM licenses

Standard computer software

Cash register

Price scanner

Fridge and basic appliances

Heating/Cooling and Electricity

Building and maintenance

Plasma Screen with USB Connection

Opportunities

Become a Regional Gateway VIC, maximising the NVIC’s location.

Raise the number, utilisation and capacity of volunteers and equip them to undertake higher level duties.

Create a boutique retail outlet where local products are expanded.

Explore e-commerce such as setting up an e-bay online shop as a

Page 36 of 66

possible VIC retail revenue stream.

Offer Free Wi Fi and create an internet Kiosk at the NVIC.

Develop a Narrandera Visitor App to complement physical Visitor Services.

Examine the feasibility of the Centre housing a future café and coffee shop.

Become an Accredited Level 1 VIC with accommodation booking service.

New purpose built facility incorporating a quality retail area and dedicated service counter.

Purchase another property on the Newell Highway to replace existing NVIC building and create a modern streamlined structure linked to the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre where exhibitions and functions could be held.

Consider dedicated off street parking for vehicles.

Create additional revenue streams by rebuilding the Centre and housing industry sponsored static and digital demonstrations (Eg Hazelnut processing).

Enhance visuals through the creation of a theatrette.

Secure a liquor licence and sell wine.

Council’s role: (mark with X)

Coordinator / facilitator Advocate

Regulator Educator

Owner X Provider

Purchaser Funder X

Business operator X Others

Statutory obligations

Operations must be in line with the Local Government Act 1993.

Ability to maintain the role of regulator if the Visitor Services is privatised. Regular reporting, inspections, accurate statistical data kept by the private enterprise and checked by Council.

Staff and Stakeholder ideas

1. Redevelop the existing Centre.

2. Rebuild a new Visitor Centre at the existing site.

3. Build a new toilet block at the Centre.

4. Turn the Centre into a regional gateway VIC.

5. That the events role be removed from the Visitor Centre and relocated to the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre.

6. That the events role be removed from the Visitor Centre and

Page 37 of 66

relocated to the Narrandera Council Chambers.

7. Reduce operating hours at the NVIC by one hour per day (9:30am to 4:30pm).

8. Reduce opening hours, but maintain staff hours to ensure greater efficiency in output. Eg. Staff could start at 9.15am for an opening time of 9.30am. (This could result in customer dissatisfaction – seeing staff but not being able to enter and be served).

9. Reduce retail expenditure and stock on hand but retain profit margin.

10. Ensure retail items have easy to read prices to avoid customers having to ask.

11. Create an internet kiosk at the NVIC where visitors can self-help.

12. Install a baby change table in the female toilet block.

13. Create a site for visitors to charge phones/smart devices (encourages time spent in the area while waiting).

Current Industry trends

The 2013 Urban Enterprise study reports that VICs taken as a whole and including those in metropolitan centres are experiencing a 2 percent per annum decrease in walk-in visitation (on arrival).

There is also a network-wide shift towards a more proactive approach in taking information to the visitor how and when they want it, instead of hoping the visitor comes to the information. Visitor Centres are evolving how they provide information especially in line with the rapid increase in visitors’ use of technology. Visitors often use mobile devices, not only to gather information, but to create their own content and share experiences during their visit.

VICs have limited appeal for younger volunteers who have different expectations and requirements than older generation volunteers.

VICs providing paper-based information and limited opening hours have less relevance for visitors who want to access high-quality, targeted information online 24 hours a day.

Source: Strategic Directions Paper 2014.

A 2013 study into the behaviour of domestic visitors showed that Visitor Information Centres ranked third behind the internet and “previous visits” as sources of all tourism information, with an annual shift of 2% to internet and mobile technology. The report found that the role of VICs remained important as a source of pre-visit information (VIC Consumer Trends 2013).

The demand for traditional Visitor Services i.e. built-for-purpose VICs, will reduce over the long term, as more senior travellers are replaced by those who access all travel information on-line and using mobile GPS, websites and increasingly apps. Nevertheless for Narrandera

Page 38 of 66

and other regional towns, this process will be a slow one as the Baby Boomer generation reaching retirement age and the caravan and self- contained traveller market continues to grow. The National Visitor Survey 2013 showed the Caravan and Camping market accounts for 30% of tourism growth in regional NSW and in 2013 grew by 15%. According to the Consumer Research Report 2011, while the Caravan and Camping market has been dominated by those born pre and during WWII, the huge Baby Boomer demographic will begin to dominate in coming years.

Other information

The NVIC operation is supported by a high level of goodwill from staff and volunteers. This is an asset of considerable value to Council and the community. There is a risk that should the service be reduced it will erode not only the service, but the goodwill of those involved.

Benchmarking with Organisations

Service and efficiency Indicators or Unit Rates

Chosen Benchmark Organisations

The NVIC provides the communication link between the locality, the tourist trade, the business precinct and the visitor. Information services support the area’s marketing and promotion, and provide a direct service to the tourism trade. The NVIC has a strong retail function focussed on local products. The NVIC also manages satellite information services for Caltex, The Narrandera/Leeton Airport and Grong Grong AVIC level 3.

Narrandera Visitor Information Centre

Riverina, NSW

AVIC Level 2

Weekly opening hours: 52

Weekly Visitor Services Hours: 77

Visitor Services staff to opening hours ratio: 1.48

Shire Population: 6,013

Annual Centre Visitation: 22,000

Owned by: Local Government

Service delivery: Retail, events, visitor services, Tiger Moth Museum, management of satellite information bays, town and nature tours.

Page 39 of 66

The Leeton VIC is situated in a Murrumbidgee Irrigation Trust heritage building which is considered an attraction in its own right, and is adjacent to a bus stopping bay. The Leeton VIC provides visitor services and soft marketing activities catering to both visitors and locals. The small retail element focuses on local produce sold on a not-for-profit basis while a substantial gallery of local artworks is also on display. The Leeton VIC is currently looking at reducing its centre opening hours from 47.5 down to 43 per week.

Leeton Visitor Information Centre

Riverina, NSW

AVIC Level 2

Weekly opening hours: 47.5

Visitor Services Hours: 89.3





Service delivery: Visitor services, basic retail and exhibition, annual event (Red Carpet Day), online marketing and social media, tourism development.

Griffith VIC offers a diverse service catering for visitors to the area that have a strong agricultural interest, supporting event development and assisting visitors wanting event information. The Centre is also a booking service. Information on attractions, accommodation and advice on Griffith's dining experiences and wineries are provided upon request. An interactive display tells the story of Griffith's development as an irrigation town and surrounds that now contributes significantly to wonderful regional produce.

Griffith Visitor Information Centre

Riverina, NSW

AVIC Level 1







Service delivery: Itinerary planning, visitor services, retail, marketing and promotion, volunteer tour guiding for coach groups, event ticketing and booking service.

Junee’s VIC takes the form of a static brochure stand in the entryway of their museum and coffee shop located in the main street of the town. Any additional service consists of information provided

Junee Museum and Visitor Information Centre

Riverina, NSW

Page 40 of 66

by (primarily museum and some community) volunteers.

Not accredited


Annual Centre Visitation: 3,500 (mainly the museum)

Weekly opening hours: 45 (Mainly for the museum)

Weekly Visitor Services Hours: 0 – volunteers.

Visitor Services staff to opening hours ratio: 0


Service delivery: A museum with some visitor information. Equivalent to an AVIC level 3. Volunteer operated.

The Coolamon Up to Date Store is a cultural building that opens when volunteers are available. No paid staff work at the Centre. The community supports the Up to Date Store, however there has been a strong push for more formalised Visitor Services in the town. Council is considering seeking a Level 3 AVIC accreditation for the Up to Date Store.

Coolamon Up to Date Store

Riverina, NSW

Not accredited.



Weekly opening hours: 30 (if volunteers available)

Weekly Visitor Services Hours: 0 (No paid staff)

Visitor Services staff to opening hours ratio: N/A


Service delivery: Cultural centre, community venue, exhibitions, minor retail, volunteers offer basic visitor services.

Dubbo’s information shows that they service more than double Narrandera’s visitor numbers per year, with an average of two, sometimes three staff members engaged in Visitor Services on any given day. Volunteers are called ‘Ambassadors’ and are not

Dubbo Visitor Information Centre

Orana, NSW

AVIC Level 1




Page 41 of 66

permitted to use the cash register. The Dubbo VIC is located on the corner of Macquarie Street and Newell Highway. Staff provide a range of information on local attractions, upcoming events, assistance with accommodation and other services as required.




Service delivery: Visitor services, retail, event support, conducting of city tours (volunteers), online visitor information, site of Aurora Research.

Temora’s Visitor Centre is now part of their rural museum. They have one permanent staff member with 2 casuals covering daily lunch breaks. Volunteers cover the remaining workload. It has been noted that the numbers of local visitors to the centre has dropped significantly since it shifted out of the main street, but there are more drop in visitors in the current location. The current location is seen as better for long vehicle parking.

Temora Museum and Visitor Information Centre

Riverina, NSW

AVIC Level 2

Shire Population:

Annual Centre Visitation:


Weekly Visitor Services Hours: 46.5



Service delivery: Retail, museum management and exhibitions and visitor services. Self Service tea and coffee available at the back of the centre.

West Wyalong became a co-location for Visitor Services and library services. This was a temporary move that is currently being reviewed. Visitor Services consists of a sitting area with brochures within a corner of the library, with library staff responding to any visitor queries during library opening hours.

West Wyalong Library and Visitor Centre

Central West, NSW

Not accredited


Annual Visitors: Less than 1,000


Weekly Visitor Services staffing hours: 0 (Library staff)

Visitor Services staff to opening hours ratio: N/A


Service delivery: Library services with a small sitting area utilised for brochures. Visitor Services enquiries are only 10 per week. The Council Chambers is another location for visitors to seek

Page 42 of 66

information.

The Deniliquin Heritage Centre and VIC are not revenue raisers. The changeover of exhibits in the Peppin Centre monthly is an initiative that has raised the bar with getting local and non-local visitors to the Centre. Once captured, the visitors are funnelled into the town. Local visitors are encouraged to engage with exhibitions, example, they are knitting poppies for the upcoming ANZAC exhibition. One of the primary roles is for staff to capture and funnel visitors and on-sell the Deni Ute Muster retail during the Ute Muster. The permanent part timers also cover weekends on a roster basis. There are resourcing difficulties on weekdays and weekends with staff struggling to roster in a lunch break.

Deniliquin Visitor Centre and Heritage Centre

Riverina, NSW

AVIC Level 2


Annual Centre Visitors: 17,000


Weekly Visitor Services Staffing Hours: 51 per week



Service delivery: Retail, Visitor Services, Monthly Changeover of Peppin Centre Exhibition material, Town Tours (coaches 4 – 5 per month), community engagement, responding to emails and phone enquiries, overseeing the Pippin Centre, capture and funnel of visitors.

The Hay Visitor Information Centre is located off the main street in Moppett Street. Staff assist visitors with information on Hay and the surrounding area, and on upcoming events. Push bike hire, shower facilities and filtered water are available on site, and local products and other retail are available. The Centre also offers guided tours of Hay and its five museums.

Hay Visitor Information Centre

Riverina, NSW

AVIC Level 2


Annual Centre Visitors: 17,000


Weekly Visitor Services Staffing Hours: 75



Service delivery: Event applications, bike hire, visitor services, retail, community group assistance.

Summary of Visitor Services Staffing Hours to Opening Hours Ratio

A higher ratio equates to greater resourcing.

Page 43 of 66

AVIC Level 1

Griffith Visitor Information Centre: 2.08

Dubbo Visitor Information Centre: 1.91

AVIC Level 2

Leeton Visitor Information Centre: 1.88

Hay Visitor Information Centre: 1.56

Narrandera Visitor Information Centre: 1.48

Temora Visitor Information Centre: 1.43

Deniliquin Visitor Information Centre: 1.04

AVIC Level 3

Nil

Not Accredited

Coolamon Up to Date Store N/A

Junee Museum and Visitor Centre N/A

West Wyalong Library and Visitor Centre N/A

Review Levels of Service Issues & Implications

Provide no service i.e. exit

The economic effect on Narrandera could be significant. VICs are economic drivers, they disperse visitor expenditure and increase visitor yield (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

Providing no service will result in the loss of capture and funnel of Newell Highway traffic to the town’s retail, food, accommodation, attractions and activities. The Shire will lose its capacity to convert enquiries into visits or maximise the visitor spend for those who do visit.

It may be the difference between some businesses remaining viable in town or closing due to their reliance on the visitor economy.

The Tiger Moth Museum would not have supervision from the building next to it. It would likely close as well or need to be

Page 44 of 66

relocated elsewhere.

Grong Grong would lose its accreditation as an AVIC level 3 as the Narrandera VIC is currently its sponsor as a level 2, and could not provide this service as a Level 3.

The Airport and Caltex stations would lose their information stands which are currently managed by the NVIC.

The current high level of community pride and tourism awareness means that local individuals and groups work to create social value by striving to develop, attract and support events and recreational and cultural activities and amenities. This motivation could be significantly diminished by the loss of the above services.

Provide a lower level of service

A small reduction in NVIC opening hours may only have a minor impact on the service delivery. For instance the NVIC is currently open 52 hours per week, but by reducing the Monday to Saturday opening times by 1 hour each day down to 45 hours per week the service could still be delivered.

Reduction of overall retail offerings would also have minimal negative impact on the service.

To lower the level of Visitor Service too much could result in a large reduction in captured tourists spending money in the town that would significantly negatively impact on the economic health of the town.

To a great extent the level of service is driven by the demand of the travelling public. While the doors are open, managing public relations requires any reasonable need for Visitor Information Services to be met. The removal of any of the services while the building remains open would create a situation where staff and volunteers would be constantly faced with defending the lack of those services. Narrandera’s reputation with the travelling public could be damaged.

Provide the same level of service

This will not resolve the current issue of needing to increase efficiencies. By providing the same level of service operational savings and improvements are not addressed.

Page 45 of 66

The existing service is being clouded by ‘distractions’ primarily caused by events which absorbs staff time that should be focused on Visitor Services.

Page 46 of 66

Provide a higher level of service

A higher level of service can be achieved without additional capital contributions. Through more effective utilisation of technology and strategising the most effective distribution of accurate and required information to visitors, Council and the shire will be successful in providing a higher level of service at the NVIC.

It is realistic to create savings and improvements in such a way that the Centre remains in place, achieving even better outcomes for the Shire, at a reduced cost, achieving greatest value for ratepayers.

Increased amenity through upgrade of toilets, adding shower and change-room facilities would increase the use of the VIC, particularly by caravanning and camping travellers, however it is not possible to predict a measurable benefit to the local tourism industry.

Providing a higher level of service through the addition of a coffee shop while on the surface appears desirable, has many pitfalls (including commercial competition) and would require an extensive feasibility study to assess impact (positive and negative).

An important caveat to all of the above is the number of intangibles that a higher level of service can support e.g. support Narrandera brand, enhanced community pride, support investment in tourism. A strong and attractive brand builds local business confidence and supports investment in tourism, but also investment in other retail or service activities.

Increased pride in community and place supports and drives community efforts to hold events, and develop cultural and other recreational activity. The NVIC also provides information to local residents, and awareness and access to training and support for local tourism operations and services.

The creation of the NVIC into a Regional Gateway Centre and in a vastly improved building would provide a higher level of service and would require investment and development of a business plan moving forward.

Page 47 of 66

Service Delivery Models Issues & Implications

Sharing services and resources with other councils

A Visitor Information Centre shared service option has been investigated with Leeton Shire Council. This was seen as a viable possibility, particularly given the charter of recommendations decreed as part of the NSW Local Government Reform which encourages shared service delivery amongst neighbouring Councils.

This arrangement could result in operational efficiencies through centralised systems and joint servicing (eg brochure management and standardising operational procedures).

A model of one overarching Visitor Centre Supervisor supported by Visitor Services staff at each Centre was seen as workable as long as the service at each respective Centre was not eroded to the point of being unworkable.

Concerns have been raised about parochialisms and the possibility of one VIC becoming diluted. It must also be noted that whilst this model may enable efficient service delivery utilising staff at each Centre, it may result in each Council having to fund a Senior role to effectively oversee both sites while maintaining adequate resourcing to cover opening hours for each Centre.

Issues and implications are:

Potential reduction in representation of Narrandera to the tourist market

Negative impact on services available in Narrandera itself

Negative impact on local tourists who want the presence of the Centre and its current level of opening hours, or greater

Narrandera may lose its capacity to oversee Grong Grong satellite service

Potential to have staff working in Visitor Services in Narrandera who don’t have the

Page 48 of 66

level of local knowledge of current staff

See attachment 9 – Possible Shared Service Delivery Structure

Strategic relationships with government bodies

There has been some discussion in the past of a possible partnership with National Parks and Wildlife Services NSW to utilise Narrandera as the Gateway to the largest River Red Gum forests in the Southern Hemisphere and turning the Visitor Centre into a form of discovery centre. This option could be revisited as part of a redevelopment of the NVIC.

‘Arms length entities’ to manage the service

It would not be financially viable for a third party to manage the facility. It would also create a barrier between Council and the customer which can often result in dissatisfaction or poor customer service due to conflicting priorities. For instance the third party may have a greater focus on the retail side of the operation at the expense of positive customer service.

The service is needed ‘at ground level’ where visitors can walk in and receive face to face service. Highway traffic is significant, and the capture and funnel approach relies on a service located locally and on the highway, in order to work. Without this, businesses in the town could close down due to the loss of tourist dollars being funnelled their way through the portal of the Visitor Centre.

Managing of the Centre needs to occur from within the Centre because the Centre’s volunteers are not at the level that would be required to leave them to their own devices unsupervised.

Joint ventures or public private partnerships (PPPs)

Dilution of the attention given to delivering Visitor Services due to competing demands.

Anything that removes the Visitor Centre from the highway and the park results in greatly reduced tourist numbers funnelled into the town. Many simply won’t go off the highway to go to a Visitor Centre.

Any private enterprise that went into the Visitor Centre would need to not compete with anything established in the town itself (ie not be a coffee shop, a dress shop etc).

Reduction of the scope of Visitor Services offered.

Reduction in the number of visitors to enter the Centre if this joining results in a shift off the

Page 49 of 66

highway.

Community run services or enterprises

Volunteerism works in its current form, utilising volunteers focused on providing local knowledge to visitors, and base level assistance to the VIC Coordinator (shelf stocking, pamphlet photocopying).

At a minimum, the Volunteer members of the NVIC team undertake the following duties:

Meet & Greet and information provision. Retail sales. Ensure that the merchandise is well stocked

and displayed. Pricing and putting away stock. Maintain Brochure Stocks - copying and

folding in-house brochures and leaflets. Administrative tasks, eg: banking, mailing,

answering the telephone, preparing information packs for mailing.

To run the service wholly via the community does not appear to be a likely possibility. A service of this nature cannot be delivered by volunteers unless comprehensively skilled in business, retail and Visitor Services administration. It would require a pool of skilled volunteers who had run their own businesses and could and would undertake the reporting and legalities of running the Centre, be able to bring comparable capture and funnelling skills, and not put the demands of their own lives before their volunteering (ie turn up for ‘work’ just as a paid employee would).

With the hard-working business community of Narrandera employed in running its own ventures, it is highly unlikely if not impossible that all of these criteria could be met in Narrandera. The service would end up being closed at times it should be open, and the administrative side of it could become nightmarish. This option seems unworkable.

Outsource service or activities to external providers

There is potentially some scope for this, in such things as outsourcing the management of the Tourism Facebook page to a dedicated group of volunteers, and the potential to have volunteers provide Eco-tours. The successful outsourcing of Visitor Services in the sense of face-to-face contact with visitors appears unachievable. This would need to occur not only using trained

Page 50 of 66

individuals, but occur at the first point of contact with the town – the Visitor Centre.

New business enterprises to generate additional income

Diversify local product hampers to combine Ferrero Rocher product, cordials and jams, fresh seasonal fruit such as oranges, and locally crafted Aboriginal artefacts such as boomerangs. They could be sold at the VIC, by delivery service, purchasable online and promoted regionally.

Online shopping – NVIC to create an e-bay shop.

Raise the commission being taken on local product items.

A section of the Centre that is ‘pay to enter’ such as historical information, lizard centre, art gallery.

Current Model

The current model is not sustainable. The output is large but staff feel overworked and not able to perform their core jobs effectively. Visitor Services is not being performed to the required standard. The distraction caused by events is eroding Visitor Services and also causing pressure on the Events Officer role, with the result of being torn between the competing priorities of serving the customer while needing to meet event deadlines.

The broken concentration of working on projects at the Centre is not workable, causing large scale inefficiencies.

The existing model also creates the perception by some externally that the Centre is well resourced due to the Events role operating out of the Visitor Centre and this role not focusing on Visitor Services.

Internal Operations

Organisational structure

All Visitor Centre staff work on a rotational monthly roster.

Visitor Centre Coordinator works 28 hours per week, but not weekends.

Visitor Services and Ecotourism Officer works 25 hours and alternating Saturdays.

Events and Visitor Services Officer (Job Share) works 38.5 hours and alternating Saturdays.

A Visitor Centre casual works 4 hours every Sunday.

Casual staff are utilised during public holidays, periods of high visitation (events) and

Page 51 of 66

school holidays.

The Ecotourism officer conducts tours to the River and koala spotting, sometimes requiring additional resourcing to cover the absence.

A static volunteer roster operates two (2) consecutive shifts per day (of one volunteer per shift) from Monday to Friday. Volunteers do not currently work on weekends.

Provision has not been made for volunteers to be left at the Centre on their own.

The roster aims to have a staff member in the Centre at all times, but during some occasions the Centre needs to be closed to allow staff their lunch of 1 hour.

Trainees can and have been useful, but require additional supervision. Effective when paired with an experienced staff member.

Processes, procedures, work practices and tools

Respond to changing customer priorities and needs.

Determine the right mix of services offered.

Ensure that the services align with Council’s Strategic Plan.

Build staff and volunteer capacity and skills.

Consider alternate service delivery.

Consider divesting service delivery.

Processes for database updating, and general procedural processes are creating extra work and need to be streamlined.

Some processes don’t seem to be functioning well enough despite more than one review of them, such as the correct management of cash monies being prepared and delivered to Chambers.

Computer and internet access for volunteers would open up a whole new level of work they could do during their volunteer shifts.

The computers should be of a quality and functionality of the ones being used at Council.

Staff lunch breaks are not being effectively internally managed at the NVIC in line with staff entitlements.

Page 52 of 66

Optimise or reduce resource usage


Consider shared service delivery with a centralised system of procedural management.

Optimise volunteers by up-skilling and rostering two volunteers on at all times, rather than aiming for one at ‘most’ times.

Provide volunteers access to computers with internet access and basic programs such as Word and Excel.

Remove the full time Events Officer role to Chambers and reduce hours by 4 due to the lack of weekend work.

Reduce casual staff budget in line with reduced opening hours.

Remove conducting of tours from existing Visitor Services and Eco Tourism role to enable focus on Visitor Services.

Develop system of online ticketing for events.

Reduce security budget.

Reduce retail expenditure. Reduce overall, non-local retail product (less time involved maintaining, restocking and selling it).

Reduce the NVIC opening hours. It is to be acknowledged that the travelling public considered as a whole are increasingly using digital and mobile digital technology pre-visit leading to a 20 percent decline in the use of Visitors Centres prior to visit (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

Optimise staff productivity


A workplace that is conducive to enhanced work output. Currently the building, office space and entrance create a dynamic environment with little to no privacy for staff.

Develop a system of one staff member or volunteer serving each visitor – not more than one person serving each visitor.

By having two volunteers at all times, staff have more time to focus on their administrative work.

Move Events role out of the Visitor Centre so it can work uninterrupted.

Remove ecotourism and tour guiding duties from the Centre creating a 100% focus on Visitor Services.

Centre Coordinator to focus on goal setting and deadlines for reporting staff.

Redeploy tasks that are not core Visitor Services to other Council staff. Eg community directory to the Community Development Manager.

A reduction in email enquiries would be achieved through a more effective and informative visitor website.

Regulatory controls / legislative requirements

Signatories to an act. Narrandera Shire Council operates under the Local Government Act

Page 53 of 66

1993.

IT Systems

Should be of the standard and speed of Council’s

Wi Fi should be made available in East Street

An internet kiosk should be set up

Options for going forward (provide at least 3) and implications

The following options are presented:

1. Narrandera Visitor Information Centre to remain in existing building and location and: A) Maintain NVIC opening hours of 52 per week

B) Reduce Visitor Services Staffing Costs by 3.25%

C) Increase retail profitability by 17.3% through reduction in annual expenditure of $10,000

D) Relocate the Events Officer from NVIC to Chambers

E) Close an additional public holiday annually (Boxing Day)

F) Adopt the following NVIC staffing structure:



*Events Officer – remaining 31.5 hours / week to be filled at the Council Chambers.

Total Direct Operating Efficiency: $11,669.84 (4.57% reduction in NVIC operating costs).

Additional Recommendations G) Investigate e-commerce options such as an e-bay shop for the NVIC to

complement physical shop.

H) Create an internet kiosk with computer, desk and chair at the NVIC and offer free wi-fi in the town business centre to encourage visitors to frequent shops and cafes along East Street.

I) An outsourced feasibility study be conducted on the future development of the

Page 54 of 66

NVIC covering redevelopment, viability and impact of a café and prospect of becoming a Regional Gateway Centre.

J) Develop a Narrandera Shire Visitor App to streamline digital visitor services

K) Implement automated statistics gathering to ensure accurate recording of data

L) Improve the Narrandera Tourism website and other online visitor services mediums

M) Prepare itinerary packs and make them available online

N) De-clutter the stock display and create a more aesthetic appeal for retail stock.

Operating efficiencies include:

Decrease retail merchandise expenditure by $10,000 from $51,100 to $41,100 and increase net profit from $23,900 to $28,900 per annum. This will be achieved by converting the retail outlet into a boutique style shop and focusing on the high turnover and high yield items.

Events and Visitor Services Officer role becomes Events Officer and is relocated from the NVIC to the Council Chambers.

Visitor Centre Coordinator lunch break to be increased from 30 minutes to 1 hour in line with other NVIC staff to enable adequate resourcing of the Centre throughout the week. Visitor Centre Coordinator becomes a formal back-up for weekends during periods of leave.

Events Officer continues to work alternate Saturdays at the NVIC enabling knowledgeable event promotion to be maximised from the NVIC. Events Officer becomes an additional back-up for Visitor Services during periods of leave.

Discontinue paid staff conducting tour guiding services and change Ecotourism and Visitor Services role to Visitor Services Officer.

Casual staffing budget is decreased to allow Visitor Services Officer role to increase from 25 to 28 hours in line with the 7 hour opening times to enable effective rostering.

Greater utilisation of volunteers including capacity building, recruitment drives, access to internet and use of volunteers to cover staff absences (eg. lunch breaks).

A more effective system to be introduced for pricing and scanning merchandise to address time consuming manual checking of prices.

Implications:

Annual saving to Council while maintaining a complete service.

Reducing Visitor Services hours may result in difficulties resourcing the Centre during periods of high visitation.

Staff productivity will be maximised with a streamlined and more effective delivery of the two separate functions; Events and Visitor Services.

Events Officer focuses on the role without interruptions.

Visitor Services is delivered without event distractions.

Better utilisation of volunteers (who don’t have to be paid).

Page 55 of 66

Visitor Services and Eco Tourism Officer role forfeits conducting of tours, but provides additional time to focus on core Visitor Services.

The NVIC will at times only be resourced by one staff member and in their absence the Centre must close over lunch, or volunteers must be able to run it while the staff member adheres to lunch break entitlement.

The model relies heavily on volunteerism.

Relocating the events role to Chambers will enable a core NVIC focus on Visitor Services. This will also allow growth in Shire event development and servicing.

Utilise two volunteers when possible supported by one staff member on duty each day or two depending on the roster.

Decrease retail expenditure creating a boutique style shop whilst maintaining profit margins. This will allow additional Visitor Services tasks to be performed.

2. Narrandera Visitor Information Centre to remain in existing building and location and reduce opening hours by 7 per week:

Current opening hours: 9.00am-5.00pm Monday to Saturday and 10am-2pm Sunday

New opening hours: 9.30am-4.30pm Monday to Saturday and 10am-2pm Sunday

A) NVIC opening hours reduced to 45 (from 52) per week (AVIC Accreditation Level 2 maintained)

B) Reduce Visitor Services Staffing Costs by 7%


D) Relocate the Events Officer from NVIC to Chambers

E) Close an additional public holiday annually (Boxing Day).

F) Adopt the following NVIC staffing structure



Total Direct Operating Efficiency: $20,371.17 (7.98% reduction in NVIC operational costs).

Additional Recommendations G) Investigate e-commerce options such as an e-bay shop for the NVIC to complement

Page 56 of 66

physical shop.

H) Create an internet kiosk with computer, desk and chair at the NVIC and offer free wi-fi in the town business centre to encourage visitors to frequent shops and cafes along East Street.

I) An outsourced feasibility study be conducted on the future development of the NVIC covering redevelopment, viability and impact of a café and prospect of becoming a Regional Gateway Centre.

J) Develop a Narrandera Shire Visitor App to streamline digital visitor services.

K) Implement automated statistics gathering to ensure accurate recording of data.

L) Improve the Narrandera Tourism website and other online visitor services mediums.

M) Prepare itinerary packs and make them available online.


Operating efficiencies include: Decrease retail merchandise expenditure by $11,100 from $51,100 to $40,000 and increase net profit from $23,900 to $26,000 per annum. This will be achieved by converting the retail outlet into a boutique style shop and focusing on the high turnover and high yield items.






Visitor Centre Coordinator role to decreases from budgeted 28 hours to 24 hours in line with the 6 hour opening times to enable effective rostering.



Implications:

Loss of ability to capture travelling visitors in early morning and in late afternoon when they are seeking accommodation.

Page 57 of 66










Relocating the events role to Chambers will enable a core focus for the Centre on Visitor Services. This will also allow growth in Shire event development and servicing.



3. Enter a shared service option with Leeton Visitor Information Centre

A) Maintain NVIC opening hours of 52 per week

B) Increase retail profitability by 17.3% through reduction in annual expenditure of $10,000

C) Relocate the Events Officer from NVIC to Chambers.

D) Close an additional public holiday annually (Boxing Day)

E) Centralise management and operational procedures

F) Centralise online Visitor Services such as use of social media

There would be no direct budget operating efficiency given the need for a senior position to take on more responsibility overseeing both the NVIC and the LVIC. There would be productivity increases with centralising of services such as management of digital Visitor Services from one site and use of systems relating to centre operations and rostering.

See attachment 9 – Possible shared Service Delivery Structure

Page 58 of 66

Additional Recommendations G) Investigate e-commerce options such as an e-bay shop for the NVIC to complement

physical shop.

H) Create an internet kiosk with computer, desk and chair at the NVIC and offer free wi-fi in the business centre to encourage visitors to frequent shops and cafes along East Street.


J) Develop a Narrandera Shire Visitor App to streamline digital visitor services.

K) Implement automated statistics gathering to ensure accurate recording of data.

L) Improve the Narrandera Tourism website and other online visitor services mediums.

M) Prepare itinerary packs (for ½ day, 1 day, 2 days) and make them available online.


Operating efficiencies include: Centralisation of service would in turn create operating efficiencies for instance use of one Standard Operating Procedure, updating of state tourism data warehouse, management of digital service delivery (eg social media).








Implications:

Narrandera would need to position itself as the regional centre with Leeton VIC as

Page 59 of 66

the satellite given Narrandera’s location on the highway and capture potential.

One VIC coordinator would be needed to oversee both sites, but given the additional responsibility of this role and the need to maintain staffing hours to cover opening hours it would not equate to a direct saving to Narrandera Shire Council even under a co-payment scheme.

Parochialisms may interfere with effective service delivery.

Both Centres would require adequate resourcing or run the risk of eroding the combined service.

A shared service would be in line with NSW Fit for the Future LG Reform recommendations for Local Government.

Potential reduction in representation of Narrandera to the tourist market.

Negative impact on services available in Narrandera itself.

Negative impact on local tourists who want the presence of the Centre and its current level of opening hours, or greater.

Narrandera may lose its capacity to oversee Grong Grong satellite service.

Potential to have staff working in Visitor Services in Narrandera who don’t have the level of local knowledge of current staff.

4. Enter into a co-location service (Eg. Narrandera Arts and Community Centre or an AVIC Level 3).

A) Opening hours would be amended in line with the co-service

B) Abolish retail and associated income

C) Relocate the Events Officer from NVIC to Chambers

D) Close all public holidays

E) Close all weekends

Otherwise there would be large capital outlays to cover the set up and furnishing costs involved in co-locating Visitor Services in with another service. It is unlikely that there would be a direct budget operating efficiency unless staff were made redundant and the co-service absorbed the new service.

Additional Recommendations F) Investigate e-commerce options such as an e-bay shop for the NVIC to complement

physical shop

G) Create an internet kiosk with computer, desk and chair at the NVIC and offer free wi-fi in the business centre to encourage visitors to frequent shops and cafes along East Street

H) Develop a Narrandera Shire Visitor App to streamline digital visitor services

Page 60 of 66

I) Implement automated statistics gathering to ensure accurate recording of data

J) Improve the Narrandera Tourism website and other online visitor services mediums

K) Prepare itinerary packs and make them available online

L) De-clutter the stock display and create a more aesthetic appeal for retail stock.

Operating efficiencies include: Retail would become a minor operation or non-existent. This would require minimal staff time, which could be used for Visitor Services.

Events and Visitor Services Officer role becomes Events Officer and is relocated to the Council Chambers.

Rationalisation of required staff to deliver the service.

Possibly a reduction in overall building and furnishing costs, but depends on set up for co-location.



Implications:

Co-locating with the arts space is no longer feasible due to the recent grant funding of $240,000 confirming it exclusively as an arts and community centre.

Narrandera could lose its AVIC Accreditation Level.

Neither service has the space or synergy to function at its current scope and standard.

Due to space limitations and competing services retail income would be reduced or lost.

Visitor Services is radically reduced, resulting in reduced service to those visitors that seek out the Centre.

Loss of capture and funnel highway traffic (many travellers simply will not leave the highway).

Possible loss of advantage of being positioned on the highway, when entering any discussion with Leeton about Gateway and Satellite shared service delivery.

The Tiger Moth Museum would not have supervision from the building next to it. It would likely close as well or need to be relocated elsewhere.

Grong Grong would lose its accreditation as an AVIC level 3 as the Narrandera VIC currently is its sponsor as a level 2.

The Airport and Caltex stations may lose their information stands which are currently managed by the NVIC as an accredited VIC level 2.

Two part time staff would have to be absorbed elsewhere into the organisation, or

Page 61 of 66

would take redundancies (the latter would cost Council an immediate financial outlay)

All highway traffic could be lost to the ‘capture and funnel’ currently undertaken. This would result in reduced economic benefit in the town and could mean closure of businesses and job losses across the retail and service delivery sectors. As an example it could mean the difference between two or one pharmacies in the town.

Events such as the John O’Brien Festival would lose the support of the Visitor Centre and would have to be more proactively run by volunteers and committee members. They would lose the passing highway tourist traffic.

Loss of staff and volunteers.

Loss of the network of resources and relationships that Council and staff have developed across the decades.

Recommendations

Recommendations

1. Narrandera Visitor Information Centre to remain in existing building and location and:

A) Maintain NVIC opening hours of 52 per week

B) Reduce Visitor Services Staffing Costs by 3.25%


D) Relocate the Events Officer from NVIC to Chambers.

E) Close an additional public holiday annually (Boxing Day)

F) Adopt the following NVIC staffing structure:



*Events Officer – remaining 31.5 hours / week to be filled at the Council Chambers.

Total Direct Operating Efficiency: $11,669.84 (4.57% reduction in NVIC operating costs).

Additional Recommendations G) Investigate e-commerce options such as an e-bay shop for

Page 62 of 66

the NVIC to complement physical shop.

H) Create an internet kiosk with computer, desk and chair at the NVIC and offer free wi-fi in the business centre to encourage visitors to frequent shops and cafes along East Street.


J) Develop a Narrandera Shire Visitor App to streamline digital visitor services

K) Implement automated statistics gathering to ensure accurate recording of data

L) Improve the Narrandera Tourism website and other online visitor services mediums

M) Prepare itinerary packs and make them available online


Implications:










Relocating the events role to Chambers will enable a core focus for the Centre on Visitor Services. This will also allow growth in Shire event development and servicing.


Page 63 of 66


Council to be owner of service, a funder of service, an enabler of service or have no role (as per service review decision model)

After completing the service review it has been determined based on the critical social and economic need for the service that Council must remain the owner of the service, with efficiencies being achieved through structural internal changes to staffing and operations.

Financial implications Income and Expenditure / Project savings

Option 1 (per recommendation) – With the NVIC open 52 hours and efficiencies being applied the total reduction in NVIC operating costs in 2015/16 is $11,669.84 which is a direct 4.57% operating efficiency.

Option 2 – With the NVIC open 45 hours and efficiencies being applied the total reduction in NVIC operating costs in 2015/16 is $20,371.17 which is a direct 7.98% operating efficiency).

Productivity & output changes





Abolish paid staff conducting tour guiding services and change Ecotourism and Visitor Services role to Visitor Services Officer.



A more effective system to be introduced for pricing and scanning merchandise to address time consuming manual checking of prices..

Page 64 of 66

Resource, workforce, IR implications

There will be no redundancies and only changes to working conditions. Operational efficiencies will be achieved through relocation of staff and associated activities that impede proper Visitor Service delivery.

The existing workforce will deliver the service, but ecotourism will no longer form part of the Visitor Services role enabling that particular position to solely focus on the core function of the position.

Community implications

Should option 2 be selected the reduction in opening hours of 7 per week will mean a reduced ability to service travellers along the highway during peak periods of 9am and 5pm.

The community will significantly benefit from the more effective use of the events role. Events as an economic driver is continually growing as are the community demands for the Shire to be an events mecca.

A streamlined and more affective visitor service will enable the Centre strengthen the drive to funnel further economic benefit into the business centre and towards local attractions and accommodation houses. The flow on effect will be a stronger local economy able to continue to offer or improve its level of services to its local community and visitors alike.

Greater attention can be given to encouraging local visitation and catering to the needs and interests of the Visiting Friends and Relatives market. The community will benefit by the economic boost derived from increase in this market, and for greater value for ratepayer investment in the provision of local tourism services.

Environmental implications

There will be no environmental implications resulting from the review recommendations.

Risk & insurance implications

No identified risks or insurance implications for the service remaining in its existing building have been identified. Should a service colocation be considered further analysis would be needed due to the implications of using a shared space with competing priorities and clientele (eg visitors to a centre housing expensive art exhibits).

Other implications A reduction of operating hours may result in a reduction in volunteer and staff goodwill. This is currently an immeasurable asset to Council that may be lost.

Implementation Scheduling

The Events Officer is to be relocated to the council chambers immediately

Changes to staff Position Descriptions May 2015

Retail rationalisation plan August 2015

All other primary recommended changes are to be implemented by 30 August 2015

Additional recommendations are to be explored and if feasible implemented within an 18 month timeframe (End of 2016)

Page 65 of 66

*Should Council reduce the opening hours of the NVIC this would require a dedicated 2 year roll out as many publications have a two year shelf life.

Communication Strategy to inform all stakeholders about the decision

Meeting with staff

Meeting with volunteers

Letter to all stakeholders informing them of decision

Notification to Council staff

Media Release informing the community of the outcome

Memorandum to be sent to Aurora (AVIC Accreditation)

Service Review Document Check

Closeout Meeting - COMPLETED

Steering Group Input - COMPLETED

Community Advisory Group Input - COMPLETED

Approvals & Follow-up Actions - COMPLETED

ELT consideration and determination

Council determination (if report has been referred to Council)

Page 66 of 66

Attachments:

1. Strategic Directions Paper 2014

2. VIC Operations Report

3. Stakeholder list and consultation comments

4. VIC staffing structure

5. NVIC Standard Operating Procedures

6. Visitor Centre Current and Proposed Operating Budgets.

7. Costing for Professional Internet Kiosk

8. Wagga VIC Article

9. Possible Shared Service Delivery Structure

10. References

1Australia’s Accredited VICs: A Strategic Directions Paper

Australia’s Accredited VICs: A Strategic Directions Paper

Frankston Visitor Information Centre

2 Australia’s Accredited VICs: A Strategic Directions Paper

Contents02 Introduction

03 A quick snapshot of accredited VICs in Australia

04 A time for change

05 Priorities for the VIC network

06 1. Contemporary VICs

08 2. Extraordinary visitor experiences

10 3. A partnership approach to visitor servicing

12 4. A recognised VIC network

14 Where to from here

IntroductionNationally there is a commitment to providing an accredited visitor information service that is relevant and valued by visitors, the tourism industry and local communities. Since 2010, a number of state and territory tourism organisations (STOs) have commissioned reports on the future of visitor information centres (VICs).1 This interest highlights both the significance of VICs in regional tourism and awareness that they face major opportunities and challenges as the landscape of tourism changes internationally. Developments in digital technology alone are transforming how visitors’ access information.

This strategic directions paper distils the key findings of those reports. The intention of the paper is to direct the national network of accredited VICs towards a future where they have a clear, relevant and valued role in the tourism distribution chain and their local communities.

The value of VIC accreditation is many fold. It provides VIC owners access to the national brand and signage and to a nationwide network of centres. Accreditation also fosters high standards in visitor servicing in the regions by ensuring the delivery of quality information and visitor facilities and the professional development of staff and volunteers.

Accredited VICs are well positioned to play an important role in achieving the tourism industry’s goal to increase its competitiveness and double visitor expenditure by 2020. As a key point of distribution once the visitor has arrived, VICs have a capacity unrivalled in their region to disperse visitor expenditure, increase yield and inspire visitors to re-visit and recommend the destination. The future success of accredited VICs will depend on their ability to respond to changing visitor and industry expectations and deliver value to visitors, the industry, local government and residents.

1 The STOs and their reports are: Tourism Victoria (Victorian Visitor Information Centres Futures Project, 2013); Tourism and Events Queensland (A Way Forward for Queensland VICs, 2014); South Australian Tourism Commission (South Australia: The role of Visitor Information Centres (VICs) in distributing tourism product in regional South Australia, 2012); Tourism New South Wales, through Aurora Research, (Northern Rivers Regional Visitor Services Strategy, 2012)


2 The Impacts of Regional Visitor Information Centres on Visitor Behaviour in South Australia: Summary of Results, 2011, South Australian Tourism Commission3 Victorian Visitor Information Centres Futures Report, 2013, Tourism Victoria4 Annual Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index from AIMIA, 2013. http://stuartbuchanan.com/2013-australian-mobile-use-statistics-four-takeaways-from-aimias-australian-mobile-lifestyle-index/

A quick snapshot of accredited VICs in Australia

� Australia has over 460 accredited VICs that serve many millions of visitors per year.

� Over 80% of the accredited VICs are run by local government, with most of the others having some kind of council support.

� Engagement with VICs can result in 59% or more additional expenditure in the community (or around $180 per adult visitor) on fuel, food and retail, accommodation and attraction services.2

� VICs generate social benefits for their communities in addition to economic outcomes (e.g. employment, information for residents, community hubs, support during crises, industry training and support).

� Average operating costs per VIC range from $100,000 to $300,000 plus, annually.

� Economies of scale, in terms of servicing each visitor, drop once a VIC has 35,000 or more walk-in visitors.3

� Across Australia, VICs employ more than 500 staff and thousands of volunteers.

� Smartphone penetration amongst Australian adults is now at 88% (up 12% year on year), and projected to reach 93% by the end of 2014.4

� Visitors are increasingly using the internet and mobile devices for travel planning and bookings.

Darwin Visitor Information Centre


A time for changeThe role of VICs in the future has come under scrutiny. The STO reports highlight that the traditional VIC operating model needs to change. The VIC model was developed in an era before visitors could research and book accommodation and experiences using mobile technology while on holiday. Now the traveller can independently search detailed and tailored information online before and when they reach their destination using smartphones and other mobile devices.

Some VICs have expanded or changed their operations in response to visitor and industry needs. But a network-wide shift is needed towards a more proactive approach in taking information to the visitor how and when they want it, instead of hoping the visitor comes to the information.

A number of opportunities and challenges for the VIC network can be identified that have the potential to influence its future.

Opportunities for VICs:

� They can evolve how they provide information. They can respond especially to the rapid increase in visitors’ use of technology, particularly via mobile devices, to gather information, create their own content and share experiences during their visit.

� They can leverage visitors’ desire to experience what is unique and special about a destination.

� VIC accreditation can continue to drive VICs to optimise the visitor experience and maximise value for the tourism industry and local community.

� VICs can regularly take information out of their building to high visitor traffic areas, e.g. via pop-up stands and roving ambassadors with tablets.

� VICs can work towards delivering all visitors consistent front-of-house experiences regardless of the size and location of the VIC.

� Working together, VICs can establish a modern, integrated network that allows visitors to have their information and travel booking needs met regardless of their location.

� VICs can diversify the services they offer, such as actively servicing local residents with community information and providing support to event management and marketing.

� The well-established STO VIC network can provide greater national and state leadership to VICs.

� VICs can make the experience of working in them more attractive for volunteers that are comfortable with technology.

Challenges facing VICs:

� VICs providing paper-based information and limited opening hours have less relevance for visitors who want to access high-quality, targeted information online 24 hours a day.

� The quality of visitor experiences and yield may decline because of inconsistency across the network in how visitors can access information and make bookings.

� Increasing funding pressure and scrutiny on the return on investment for local government and regional tourism organisations (RTOs) is challenging many VICs to demonstrate their value to their owners.

� Some VIC owners perceive a lack of value in accreditation.

� There is only limited tourism product available for distribution online in some destinations.

� Limited mobile coverage in some areas prevents VICs from offering an effective online service.

� The notion that VICs are a worthwhile part of the tourism distribution system is questioned by some tourism operators.

� There is some duplication of effort and inefficiencies across the network through a lack of leadership and support.

� VICs can struggle to maintain staff levels when they have to pay staff higher rates on weekends and public holidays.

� VICs have limited appeal for volunteers who have different expectations and requirements compared with the older generation of volunteers.


Priorities for the VIC NetworkFour priority areas for action have been identified from the STO reports.

1. Contemporary VICs

2. Extraordinary visitor experiences

3. A partnership approach to visitor servicing

4. A recognised VIC network

These priorities are supported by strategies to capitalise on the opportunities and address the challenges for Australia’s accredited VIC network. Each strategy has the lead agency (ies) responsible for its implementation noted in brackets. Successful implementation of the strategies will help to achieve the following outcomes:

� the yellow and blue symbol is recognised nationally as a source of high quality visitor information

� visitors are welcomed as guests, with the distinction that they are invited and valued guests to the VIC and the destination

� accredited VICs are preferred by visitors as a source of information they can trust

� passionate and articulate VIC teams engage with visitors in a way that inspires them to discover and explore the destination and leave with a desire to return

� VICs are an important tourism and community hub, meeting the information needs of visitors, the tourism industry and local residents

� the VIC network’s relevance and value grow under strong national leadership.

Bulcock Street Visitor Information Centre


1. Contemporary VICs

VICs’ use of technology in providing information is only a part of what they offer. It is essential however, as they can no longer simply offer a 9 to 5 service. By the VICs working with their RTO to supply information online, visitors can access information at any time prior to arriving and when in the region. VICs can also have a role in meeting the needs of visitors who seek only digital content.

VICs should not be expected to be financially self-sufficient as information providers. They are an economic driver, dispersing visitor expenditure and increasing visitor yield. They can also have a critical role as an information hub during emergency response and recovery in times of crisis. There is an onus on them however to maximise the return on investment for local government and RTOs. To do so, VICs need sustainable business models with a focus on flexibility. They will have to adapt their services to the needs of their audience and many already are doing so. Measuring their effectiveness should be based on standardised indicators such as economic impact, visitor experience and satisfaction, industry growth and performance, and local community benefits.7

5 The role of Regional Visitor Information Centres in the distribution of tourism product, 2012, South Australian Tourism Commission 6 i-SITE Corporate Profile 2012, Tourism New Zealand7 A Way Forward for Queensland VICs, 2014, Tourism and Events Queensland; Victorian Visitor Information Centres Futures Report, 2013, Tourism Victoria; The role of Regional Visitor Information Centres in the distribution of tourism product, 2012, South Australian Tourism Commission

The success of accredited VICs in maintaining and enhancing their relevance and having an edge over technology depends on several factors. These include their ability to ensure a visitor’s experience with a VIC is unforgettable and the service unparalleled. With the plethora of information online, visitors have to sift to find information they can trust and the inspiration for what to see and do in a destination or on their journey. VICs have the opportunity to engage visitors of all ages both on and off-line and maintain a clear point of difference from other information providers. They can do this by:

� delivering accurate, timely and objective information in a way that is convenient and personalised to a visitor’s needs, is easily digested, and can be instantly booked or actioned.

While information is increasingly sourced online, information provided by VICs is regarded as authoritative and unbiased. This type of information may be used to supplement information obtained online that may be perceived as biased, inaccurate or out of date.5

� enabling visitors to speak directly with passionate, knowledgeable locals. Staff and volunteers can help visitors gather information and inspire them with insights and stories to spend time and money in the region and connect with other VICs on their journey.

Finding a perfect beach, a great place to stay or a restaurant the locals all love can be the difference between an ordinary break and a holiday people remember for the rest of their lives.6

Canberra and Region Visitors Centre


Suggested strategies

� Position VICs in state and regional marketing and communications as the place to go when in region (virtually and on the ground) to find out from passionate and knowledgeable locals what to see and experience and how to get there. (STOs, RTOs)

� Identify any critical gaps in mobile coverage and present a business case for digital infrastructure improvements to ensure coverage in popular tourism locations. (STOs)

� Require all VICs (as an essential accreditation requirement nationally) to have an effective online presence in partnership with their RTO, offer free WiFi and provide a basic level of digital technology to help visitors source and book product. (STOs)

� Provide VICs with guidelines on delivering information online, including responding to comments and complaints on social media, to achieve a standard level of service. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Facilitate all accredited VICs in offering an online booking service by 2018 via the destination website. This service must be compatible with Tourism Exchange Australia so that Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) product can be booked regardless of the VIC location. (STOs)

� Investigate options for VICs to offer an online ‘virtual Visitor Centre’ available 24 hours a day through social media, where visitors can ask real time questions and the VIC can upload promotions and special offers. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Maintain a presence on travel review sites, providing information on the services and benefits offered to visitors, using user generated content where appropriate. (VICs)

� Identify best practice sustainable business models for visitor servicing that reflect different operating environments and give VICs the flexibility to meet visitor, industry and community needs. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Encourage VIC owners to introduce user pay services that add value for visitors and provide an income stream for the VIC. (STOs)

� Provide VICs with guidelines on measuring their economic and social contribution. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Establish a National VIC Working Group to gather and share consumer and industry intelligence and best practice in the provision of visitor information, and monitor the process of change and its impact on service provision. (National VIC group)

Darwin Visitor Information Centre


2. Extraordinary visitor experiences

The level of service VICs provide affects the reputation of the accredited VIC network and Australia as a visitor destination. Visitors need to leave delighted with the ‘must do’ activities and experiences and want to return. This requires well-trained VIC staff and volunteers, digital technology as a minimum and constant improvement in training and service standards.

VIC accreditation enables a VIC to demonstrate its commitment to continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. It also requires VICs to focus on business planning and operational protocols to ensure consistency in their service delivery. From a consumer perspective, review sites such as TripAdvisor have a more powerful impact on visitor travel decisions than accreditation schemes.

VIC accreditation’s greatest value for visitors is in ensuring that every touch point with VICs is the best experience possible so that they are recognised and talked about as essential for travel planning. As visitor needs change, the VIC accreditation program must continue to evolve to remain relevant.

Achieving a greater consistency in ‘front of house’ across the network is needed to enhance visitors’ VIC experience. Visitors should be able to go into any accredited VIC and find the same or similar layout, level of service and facilities available, while experiencing a sense of the unique qualities of the local area. A culture of service excellence across the network is also vital.

Port Augusta Visitor Information Centre



� Change the perception of visitors to VIC guests. The rationale is that it is possible to build a strong emotional connection when a visitor feels like a valued guest. (National VIC group, STOs, RTOs, VICs)

� Encourage VIC staff and volunteers to become storytellers to help engage visitors, spark their imagination and inspire them to explore the destination. (STOs, VIC owners)

� Develop a national VIC training program that is accredited, designed for flexible delivery (on and offline) and promotes a culture of excellence among staff and volunteers. (National VIC group)

� Require VIC induction training to include the national, state and destination’s brand promise and values and how staff and volunteers are to live and breathe these in their interaction with visitors, tourism operators and the community. (STO, VIC owners)

� Update VIC accreditation criteria to:

� standardise minimum requirements nationally, including opening 42 hours per week

� include any additional services and facilities to be provided by all VICs

� give VICs flexibility to provide services in addition to minimum requirements

� reduce unnecessary compliance costs for VICs

� allow VICs to change their opening hours (within minimum standards) to reflect visitor demand

� enable VICs to operate under business models that maximise outcomes and minimise outgoings, such as partnerships for delivery with compatible businesses, mobile/’pop-up’ VICs, and sharing staff costs across businesses (National VIC group/STOs)

� Rationalise the VIC accreditation audit processes across the network to bring them into alignment. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Provide VICs with guidelines on:

� quality online content and interactive displays in their centres that encourage visitors to experience the destination and give them the information they need

� best-practice staff and volunteer recruitment and management practices to ensure that VICs have the best team to meet visitor expectations and needs

� meeting ‘front of house’ facility and service requirements to achieve consistency across the network (including technology needs)

� display and sale of locally-produced merchandise to provide added value to visitors and generate income for the centres as well as the local providers. (National VIC group/STOs)

Canberra and Region Visitors Centre


3. A partnership approach to visitor servicing

Source: Project VIC Connect report, 2014, Tourism and Events Queensland.

VICs cannot operate in a silo if they are to provide accurate information and messages to visitors consistent with the RTO’s regional marketing, as well as valuable intelligence and insights back to industry. They are also an important platform for local operators to promote and sell their products and services.

With VICs dispersed across the country, a strong, collaborative VIC network is required to ensure visitors have a seamless ‘VIC experience’. VICs need to promote not only their own destination, but also others on a visitor’s journey and coordinate bookings for other destinations as required.

Key to a national VIC network is the establishment of an overarching national body with senior representation from each state and territory. This body is crucial to provide guidance, facilitate best practice and achieve consistency in accreditation and service delivery nationally. With the demise of the T-QUAL accreditation program, a strong national body is even more important to maintain and enhance the value of the accreditation program to the industry, RTOs, local government and community. VICs working together at a national through to local level can make a measurable contribution to the quality of the visitor experience and the industry’s growth target.

VIC

Tourism Product

Visitors

Local Business

Community

A collaborative approach in visitor servicing is crucial because of the many touch points for visitors.

VICs need to be actively involved with the RTO and local tourism organisations in destination management planning and well engaged with tourism operators, local government and the community.

Port Augusta Visitor Information Centre



� Encourage RTOs to take a partnership approach to visitor servicing, with clear roles and responsibilities for the VIC in destination management. (STOs, RTOs)

� Hold an annual meeting of VIC stakeholders and engage regularly throughout the year to discuss and progress VIC initiatives. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Develop and deliver a local government and industry advocacy program to increase understanding of the role of the VIC, the services and benefits they offer and the value they generate. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Develop guidelines for RTOs on what VIC content is to be included as standard on RTO websites to ensure continuity of the VIC brand and message in-destination. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Identify and collect visitor data and insights required to support VICs and RTOs in meeting visitor needs and growing visitor yield. (VIC owners, RTOs)

� Establish an online network forum for VICs that encourages engagement and the sharing of resources and information with each other on visitor behaviour and trends and best practice systems and processes. Information shared may include VIC design, technology transitioning, booking systems, marketing of the , and consumer needs and research. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Identify and implement collaborative exercises across the network, such as generic smart phone applications, group purchasing, marketing, and research. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Work with ATDW to increase the amount of online bookable product to enable all accredited VICs to equally distribute current and correct information.(STOs)

� Collaborate with partners to support digital and other information services and improve cost effectiveness. (VIC owners)

Frankston Visitor Information Centre


4. A recognised VIC networkFor an accredited VIC to maximise the benefits it generates for the destination, visitors and tourism operators need to be aware of its services and perceive them to have value. Anecdotally, the symbol has low recognition amongst visitors. An ongoing national marketing strategy is needed to raise awareness of the VIC network to domestic and international visitors and the tourism industry. This should aim to distinguish accredited VICs from competitors in a way that is meaningful to visitors.

The success of a national strategy will depend upon support at a state and local level. STO marketing campaigns, and RTO and local government initiatives are essential to raise the profile of the accredited centres. These campaigns and initiatives need to capture people’s imagination and produce an emotional connection to the VICs. Their effectiveness will ultimately rest on VIC staff and volunteers consistently meeting the needs of their target audiences and creating lasting memories. Only then will the VICs go beyond awareness to create preference in visitors’ minds.

A key advantage for accredited VICs should be the VIC network. Working together, the VICs can increase awareness of the accredited centres as a trusted source of information on and offline.

At a local level, a VIC needs to be easy to find, virtually and in person, with the clearly visible and information accessible for target audiences. Physically, it is important for VICs to be located in high visitor traffic areas with visible building and directional signage. Prominently featuring the

in and outside of the building and on staff and volunteer uniforms, merchandise and marketing collateral will help to build brand awareness.

Cairns & Tropical North Queensland Visitor Information Centre



� Develop and deliver a national marketing strategy which seeks to raise awareness and create a competitive position for accredited VICs. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Work with Tourism Research Australia to ensure that international and domestic visitor surveys allow the VIC network to track users of information centres and the information services they need and expect. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Encourage the VIC network to share insights and undertake joint research projects to increase understanding of visitor needs and expectations and brand awareness. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Develop standard marketing messages and collateral such as a profile on state and regional websites, national and state maps, flags, bags, door mats and badges. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Establish a national brand guide which includes templates and the requirements for the promotion and display of the on and offline by VICs, RTOs and local government and private owners, including its use in digital media, marketing collateral and communications. (National VIC group/STOs)

� Develop a VIC hub on Tourism Australia’s consumer website that raises the profile of accredited VICs with a map, addresses and contact information. (National VIC group/ STOs, TA)

� Identify opportunities for partnership marketing with local businesses and groups to promote the local VIC(s). (VIC owners)

� Review VIC locations to ensure they are sited in high visitor traffic areas, with highly visible building and directional signage. (STOs and VIC owners)

� Ensure VICs are identified on local maps, in guidebooks and other marketing collateral as relevant. (VICs, STOs, RTOs)

George Foy Park and Visitor Information Centre


Where to from here?This strategic directions paper will be distributed to VICs, STOs, local government and RTOs as a summary of the current status of accredited VICs in Australia and the strategies required to maintain a thriving VIC network in the future. The paper demonstrates a national commitment to ensuring accredited VICs continue to be valued by visitors, the tourism industry, RTOs, local government and communities.

Disclaimer

This paper has been produced based on existing STO reports on the future of accredited VICs. Irrespective of any measures taken by Tourism Victoria and Tourism and Events Queensland, on behalf of the members of the national VIC group, to check that the information is accurate or complete, in no event will Tourism Victoria or Tourism and Events Queensland be liable to any person in contract, tort (including, but without limitation, negligence) or otherwise if any information in the paper is incomplete or inaccurate.

Kuranda Visitor Information Centre


Bowen Visitor Information Centre

1 | P a g e

OVERVIEW OF

THE NARRANDERA VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRE

SERVICE DELIVERY AND SCOPE OF OPERATIONS

April, 2015

INTRODUCTION The following report offers an overview of the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre’s (NVIC’s) service delivery and scope of operations. This report delivers a platform of information as part of the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre (NVIC) Service Review.

The focus of this report is the improvement of efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability, to ensure the NVIC is Fit for the Future. The overarching aim of this report is to identify opportunities to better the NVIC’s service delivery, to ensure the best scope of operations, and to ensure that the NVIC is a genuine asset that merits the confidence and investment of the rate‐payer and all relevant stakeholders.

BACKGROUND The detailed information on the scope of operations, output, outcomes and function of the NVIC provided within this report, has been compiled in response to recommendations within the Review of Organisation Structure prepared by Blackadder Associates.

The VIC Service Review presents immense opportunity to ensure the NVIC reaches optimum efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. This report, as part of that Review, is submitted for the information and consideration of Councillors. As a result of the considerations contained within this report, it is believed that an overall cost efficiency of 6‐8% that will improve return on investment while at the same time improving the quality of the visitor experience; and generating direct benefits for the Council and community (region and state), is achievable

ORGANISATIONAL HIERACHY

The Narrandera Shire Council owns and operates the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre (NVIC). The Centre operates as a function of the Narrandera Shire Council’s Economic Development & Tourism Department under the Executive Services directorate and in accordance with Council’s policies and procedures. The Narrandera Visitor Information Centre Business Plan (2012‐2015) directs the operation of the NVIC. This operation includes the standards set down in the New South Wales Accredited Visitor Information Centre Network Manual of which the NVIC is AVIC Accredited Level 2. The NVIC also acts as a pivotal conduit in the implementation of the Narrandera Shire Product Development & Destination Marketing Strategy and the Community Strategic Plan by assisting in delivery of the endorsed objectives.

2 | P a g e

NVIC VISION & MISSION

1. To continue its reputation as a best practice Visitor Information Centre, commended widely for its excellent service and professionalism.

2. To continue to be widely valued by the community as a drawcard to the Narrandera Shire; and as an asset enhancing the social and economic growth of the Narrandera Shire community, region and state.

3. To ensure success through a dynamic team of paid staff and volunteers prioritising best possible service to NVIC users and with opportunity for on‐going skills development.

4. To strive to use the latest technology in information provision to increase the appeal of the NVIC and grow our standard of service.

5. To strive to be ‘clean and green’, using our resources efficiently and responsibly. 6. To strive to continuously improve, driven by actively seeking knowledge, opportunities,

initiatives, and best practice modelling.

DEMAND FOR A VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRE

The NVIC is one of over 460 accredited VICs that service millions of visitors Australia‐wide each year. Over 80% of accredited VICs are run by Local Government, with most others having some kind of Council support (Strategic Directions Paper 2014). The NVIC exists to service local (resident), regional, national and international tourists, to capture them and funnel them so that they can enjoy the beauty of our town and shire and its events, attractions and activities. Our businesses and residents benefit from the direct and indirect positive impact upon the local economy of those visitors spending money whilst with us.

The NVIC exists to disseminate local information through electronic and other means, to ‘get the word out’ in as far reaching a manner as possible, to as many potential visitors as possible, and encourage them into our town and shire where they will benefit our local economy.

The NVIC is an integral part of Narrandera Shire’s tourism infrastructure, providing the communication link between the locality, the tourist trade, the business precinct and the visitor. At first point of contact, visitors are welcomed to the area and made aware of the area’s products and services. These information services support the area’s marketing and promotion, and provide a direct service to the tourism trade. As a key point of distribution of visitors once they have arrived, VICs have an unrivalled capacity to disperse visitor expenditure, increase yield and to inspire visitors to re‐visit and recommend the destination (Strategic Directions Paper 2014) to others. The capture and funnel process is utilised to encourage transitory travellers to spend more time in Narrandera. The NVIC attracts and secures repeat tourism business through quality customer experience acting as the shopfront to Narrandera. Narrandera’s primary market is the touring and highway travellers (NSC Product Development and Destination Marketing Strategy 2011) consisting largely of the lucrative and active Baby Boomers who visit a physical Centre to complement their digital information gathering. Many RV travellers spend at least six months of each year on the road. This results in them utilising town services that may not at first glance be considered tourist related, such as medical centres, pharmacies, banks, newsagencies, supermarkets, vehicle service and repair centres, petrol stations, and retail shops. The RV Traveller market likes to establish rapport with towns it visits repeatedly over many years. The Visitor Centre is the first port of call for the commencement of that relationship. Studies show the economic and social benefits that a Visitor Centre brings to the whole community (e.g. employment, information for residents, community hubs, support during crises, and industry training and support).

3 | P a g e

It has been found that the presence of a physical Centre in a prominent location increases uptake of local goods and services by travellers by influencing visitor behaviour. The report prepared by Greenhill Research and Planning in 2011 showed that:

83% of VIC patrons participated in additional activities;

72% of VIC patrons increased their length of stay;

22% spent additional nights in the area and 27% spend additional nights elsewhere;

59% of VIC patrons stated that the additional activities or time resulting from their visit to a VIC had resulted in additional expenditure that they hadn’t planned prior to visiting.

These studies support the outcomes and experiences of the NVIC.

The Shire attracts in the order of 80,000 domestic overnight visitors per year, with these visitors staying 145,000 nights in the Shire and contributing more than $20 million per year to the local economy.1

More than 1,500,000 vehicles pass through Gillenbah annually and 730,000 of these are travelling the Newell Highway.2

The caravan, motorhome and camping industry is the fastest growing domestic tourism sector in Australia and rural regional communities are the major beneficiaries. The industry is worth $6.5 billion nationally and on current trends RV travellers will increase by more than 60% over the next 10 years.3

The Visitor Economy is a significant industry for Narrandera Shire.

Direct $$ spend. Multiplier effect (New money generated in the town stays in the town and ‘multiplies’).

Enhanced community amenity ‐ In many cases tourism has provided an economic argument for conservation, preservation and restoration of natural and built resources.

Visitors help pay for infrastructure and services from which all benefit. Investment in tourism pays off each and every day for local residents.

The money invested into the local economy by visitors circulates throughout that economy several times over, providing a significant ongoing economic benefit to local businesses and as a flow‐on, to local residents that would be lost without those visitors spending time (and their resources) in the community.

The NVIC acts as a ‘shop window’ for the lifestyle of the area. It is increasingly common for people who visit, are captured and funnelled, and who are impressed with the area to return as residents. Some visitors decide to relocate to the town or shire, and purchase a home. Other visitors invest in properties and/or second homes such as holiday homes.

The NVIC is a major link in community engagement. Good relationships with the local community, and community pride are grown.

The NVIC provides a direct link to key target markets that informs the direction of the shire’s destination marketing (eg: RV travellers, Visiting Friends and Relatives etc).

ACCREDITED VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRE (AVIC)

Narrandera Shire Council operates a Level 2 accredited Visitor Information Centre. While accreditation is an annual cost to Council, only accredited VICs are recognised by Tourism Australia, Tourism NSW, the RMS, TASAC (Tourist Attraction Signposting Assessment Committee) and other VICs. An Information Centre must be accredited to be listed as the point of contact in the ‘official’ brochures, websites, maps and advertising of these Bodies. In addition, TASAC will only approve signs for accredited centres.

1 Source: Tourism Research Australia – Local Government Area Tourism Profiles 2 See Narrandera Traffic Count 2014 3 Refer: http://www.segra.com.au/segra13ConfProc/presentations/Day3‐RVFuturesForum‐GrowthAndValue.pdf

4 | P a g e

The NVIC also sponsors and / or manages the following satellite services: Grong Grong General Store (AVIC 3 sponsored)

34, Junee Street, Grong Grong NSW

Narrandera/Leeton Airport (Information Bay)

6 km northwest of Narrandera, Irrigation Way

Caltex Service Station (Information Bay)

16321 Sturt Highway, Gillenbah, NSW 2700

LOCATION OPTIONS

The NVIC is located on the Newell Highway, situated in an expansive park with picnic and BBQ facilities, a four‐star rated playground, public toilets and within a developing cultural precinct that links the Tiger Moth Display, the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre, the Parkside Cottage Museum, the Wiradjuri Honour Wall and the proposed Chinese Moon Gate. This positioning provides a significant springboard to tourism and the Visitor Economy for Narrandera and its surrounds. It also delivers a distinct competitive advantage for the NVIC’s future standing as a Gateway Centre for this region. Options for alternative housing of the Shire’s Visitor Services that have been put forward on occasion have included:

1. Relocating the Visitor Centre to East Street

The removal of the NVIC from the Newell Highway would result in significantly decreased opportunity to ‘capture and funnel’. Should the NVIC be moved off the highway, visitor numbers to the NVIC would decrease by an anticipated minimum of 50%. This figure is based on the NVIC staff and volunteers existing ability to capture one in every two visitors that stop off the highway and make an impulse visit into the Centre.

Visitors would suffer inconvenience including loss of easy access to parking (including long vehicle parking). Locals would also be impacted by those large rigs that did enter East Street seeking the Visitor Centre.

Core service output, including the number of visitors serviced, and the NVIC’s retail business, would be diminished.

The costs of purchase, furnishing and fit out of a new centre (to BCA standards) would be considerable. The development of a feasibility study and business plan alone would be a costly exercise.

In summary, should the NVIC relocate into a stand‐alone building in East Street, Narrandera Shire Council on behalf of its residents, businesses and communities, would incur considerable costs to achieve a diminished service that would negatively impact on the economic health of the Shire.

Strong community opposition exists to a shift into East Street. This was evidenced at all of the Service Review consultation sessions where the existing location was seen as one of the strongest advantages the NVIC has compared to many other Centres in NSW.

2. Shared function with the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre

Co‐locating Visitor Services and a community cultural space occurred at the Up‐to‐Date Store in Coolamon. The Visitor Services element has ceased to operate.

5 | P a g e

In a 6‐month trial in Wagga Wagga recently, Visitor Services was moved from the Visitor Centre in Tarcutta Street to the Civic Centre and Art Gallery building. The trial failed to deliver the expected range of efficiencies and was unpopular with locals and visitors. The Wagga Wagga VIC has now reopened in its original Tarcutta Street location. The cost of this trial is unclear. (See Attachment 8 to Service Review Part 2 – Wagga VIC article). The recent announcement of 240k funding for development of the arts centre now precludes a joint service option as the application does not allow for shared service delivery. Had this not been the case, and the NVIC had commenced to operate its Visitor Services out of the Arts and Community Centre, this could have alienated Narrandera’s arts and cultural community. Had the arts and cultural community or other volunteers been asked to operate Visitor Services out of the Arts and Community Centre, such a service would have necessarily been radically reduced in scope. The resulting loss of captured and funnelled visitors into the town centre could have significantly reduced the economic benefits currently being funnelled into the town.

The community cultural spaces (halls, theatres, heritage buildings, etc) of small rural regional communities are opened as required eg: to host exhibitions, functions and workshops. Such Centres do not need to regularly be open seven days a week and would benefit the most from a good committee with solid terms of reference, and a vibrant program of events and other uses. It would be fiscally counter‐productive, for example, to staff an Arts and Community Centre with paid Council staff who would be more efficiently placed at Council itself.

3. Shared Services with Leeton Visitor Information Centre

The possibility of a shared service option with the Leeton Visitor Information Centre could be seen as meeting the recommendations of the NSW Local Government Reform, for shared service delivery among neighbouring Councils, and might also result in operating efficiencies where some operational procedures could be streamlined resulting in less work for each Centre. However, there is the risk of losing continuity in those people servicing visitors. In a shared service delivery, a reduction in local knowledge able to be shared due to those providing the Visitor Services having built their history and knowledge base of Leeton rather than Narrandera is of genuine concern. A shared service with Leeton could also result in reduction in services available in Narrandera, and Narrandera losing its oversight of the Grong Grong satellite service. Additionally, Narrandera would not be strongly recognised in the tourist market, and the goodwill of locals could suffer due to the reduced service being offered. Should this eventuate Narrandera would need to position itself as the Gateway to the Western Riverina and have a lead role in Visitor Services delivery.

4. Co‐Location with another Service The findings of Council’s investigations of other shared service arrangements with Visitor Centres around the region reveal that where the Visitor Centre is shifted into the other service’s existing workspace, a greatly reduced Visitor service offering has resulted. Examples include the single brochure stand in the foyer of the Junee Museum and Café complex in Junee’s main street. The brochure stand, and any assistance provided to tourists by volunteers, is a substantial minimalisation of Visitor Services, with no trained or untrained Visitor Services staff, and no Visitor Services dedicated volunteers. In West Wyalong where Visitor Services exists within the town library, it exists as a static brochure display with seating, in a corner section of the library. While library staff are friendly and do their best to assist any visitors with their enquiries, library services take precedence, the staff are not trained in Visitor Services, there are no Visitor Services staff or volunteers available as part of the service, and visitors entering the library receive a clear visual message of ‘static display help yourself’.

6 | P a g e

If co‐located within another existing service space, the NVIC would have to greatly reduce or cease altogether, the retail side of the service. This would not only result in reduced revenue that currently assists with running costs but would also mean that local producers would no longer benefit from having their wares displayed, promoted and sold through Visitor Services.

SERVICE PROVISION: OPENING TIMES

Within the bounds of its Level 2 AVIC accreditation, the NVIC is open 52 hours per week; 363 days per year. Opening hours are from Monday to Saturday 9am‐5pm and Sunday 10am until 2pm. The NVIC is closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

The NVIC team continually strives to offer enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly service that exceeds NVIC users’ expectations. The NVIC is guided by Customer Service (and other operational) Standards in accordance with NSW Accredited Visitor Information Centre (AVIC) criteria and the Council’s policies and procedures, especially the NSC’s Customer Service Policy. NVIC users praise the NVIC’s level of customer service. 85% of respondents rate the service as excellent and a further 15% rate it as good. (2014 results of the Customer Service Satisfaction Survey that operates continuously at the NVIC). DEMOGRAPHICS AND STATISTICS:

The NVIC’s demographic research identifies that transitory, visiting friends and family or on business are the main visitor markets. This supports industry research indicating these three market segments are the most active for the Riverina and Narrandera. In line with AVIC Accreditation, statistics are recorded and reported for walk‐in, phone and internet inquiries. These records indicate the following data for the calendar years of 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014: Table 1 – NVIC Statistics

Walk In E‐mail Phone Total Enquiries

2013/14 21,211 10,110 8,962 40,283

2012/13 23,417 10,288 9,960 43,665

2011/12 24,321 6,072 5,399 35,792

2010/11 23,624 1,868 4,227 29.719

NOTE: E‐mail and Phone inquiries recorded are visitor inquiries only and form only a portion of the overall communications processed through the NVIC.

An operating efficiency could be obtained by reducing the opening hours of the NVIC, eg: to 9.30am until 4.30pm (Monday to Saturday). This would reduce opening hours by 7 per week (down from 52 to 45) whilst remaining within AVIC Level 2 parameters.

Closure on an additional public holiday each year could also be considered, and would also remain within AVIC Level 2 parameters.

7 | P a g e

Recorded visit reasons show that of the 20624 people recorded on the survey in 2014:

24% were passing through

14.5% were staying for 1 or more nights

9.7% were seeking travel information

5.7% were seeking local directions

16.4% purchased souvenirs and/or gourmet and/or refreshments

7.6% were interested in the Big Guitar and/or Tiger Moth Display

7.3% were seeking information about our attractions and/or natural and built heritage

3.3% sought information on accommodation including caravan parks and RV free camping

1.8% were seeking information on events

9.7% were locals

According to these statistics 54.3% of NVIC customers were passing by. The aim of the NVIC is to convert 4% of these travellers to become overnighters. The fact that 9.7% of visitors were locals is testament to the direct value the community receives from the Centre for placing and receiving information, purchasing retail items and taking visiting friends and relatives to the Centre.

These statistics have been recorded on the NVIC Daily Statistics Sheet (kept on the NVIC service counter). It is accepted that it has not been unusual for volunteers and/or staff to miss recording statistics. Whilst this operational deficiency is being addressed, it is expected that the people‐counting sensor slated for installation at the NVIC, will provide the most accurate records possible.

Additional information was recorded on what people were interested in during their visit to the NVIC 2014. Chart 1 –NVIC Customers and Interests In 2014

DaysStaying

Refresh

Souvenir

Gourmet

Accm

RV Friend/Camp

TravelInfo

Guitar/Moth

OtherShops/ LocalEvent

Heritage

NatureBased

Part of Tour Group

The relocation of the Events role to another building would reduce the events workload on Visitor Services staff who would then undertake more Visitor Services and strategised marketing. The current events-related demand on Visitor Services Staff has resulted in elements of core work, eg: recording of accurate statistics being neglected.

8 | P a g e

INFORMATION DELIVERY

1. Print Collateral: The NVIC carries and displays a comprehensive range of local, regional, and State‐wide information brochures to meet customer demand.

a. Professionally produced publications promoting the Narrandera Shire include:

“Narrandera Heart of the Riverina” Visitor Guide

“Narrandera Heart of the Riverina Attractions” A4 fold out

“Narrandera, Grong Grong and Barellan Town Maps” ‐ A3 tear off

“Narrandera Bike and Hike” ‐ A3 Map and DL info sheet

“Grong Grong Borrow Bikes and Trails” ‐ DL brochure

“For conferences and meetings that really matter” ‐ A4 sheet

“Make the Move” ‐ A4 booklet

“Nature Tours” ‐ DL

“Koalas” ‐ DL

“Wetlands” ‐ DL

“Tiger Moth Memorial Display” – DL.

b. In‐house publications include Accommodation and Eating Guides, RV‐Friendly Camp Sites, Monthly “What’s On”, Community Directory, Bundidgerry Walking Track ‐ A5 booklet, Narrandera Cemetery Walk ‐ A4 booklet, Antiques of the Riverina ‐ A4 Sheet; and a large range of DL sized individual attractions sheets.

c. Literature relating the history and development of Narrandera is housed and in some instances, for sale at the NVIC. These include the Narrandera 150 Year Commemorative DVD 1863‐2013.

A function of the NVIC is to maintain a Media Folder of tourism and community economic development related press clippings and newspaper feature inserts, eg: Get in Touch and Our Town. Discontinuation of this function would allow a further time saving.

There are over 150 visitor related regional, state and interstate guides and publications available from the NVIC with numbers being culled due to limited display space.

2. Narrandera’s On‐Line Presence:

a. Narrandera Shire Council’s official tourism website is www.narrandera.com.au: The data evidenced in the below Webalizser program table highlights more than 51,290 visits to the Narrandera Tourism Website in less than 12 months.

Streamlining of print collateral with current in‐house information to be incorporated into other print material such as the Narrandera Heart of the Riverina Attractions Guide, a professionally produced 4‐page snapshot of our attractions with map and legend, has commenced, and if continued would provide a significant savings in ongoing in‐house print costs

The Narrandera – Heart of the Riverina Visitor Guide contains 24 pages of information about Narrandera Shire’s towns, their visitor experiences, facilities and accommodation, The cost of producing and printing 30,000 copies of this publication is $30,000 with advertisers currently responsible for ($20,000) and Council for ($10,000)

9 | P a g e

Table 2 – Visits to the Narrandera Tourism Website in 2014/15

b. The Narrandera Tourism Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/narrandera.tourism currently has 2197 ‘likes’ (members) who have access to up to date information about Narrandera’s attractions, events and other information.

NOTE: Updating the Narrandera Tourism website and Facebook page is primarily the role of Council’s Administration Officer (Tourism) but has been included in this report to offer data on existing digital usage.

c. The Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW): The NVIC is proactive in developing and maintaining product listings for the ATDW. The ATDW is the national platform for digital tourism information on Australia. It is a central distribution and storage facility for tourism industry product and destination information from all Australian States and Territories. The ATDW program stimulates access to product listings and details to a state and national audience network through websites and portals. It is an important function of the NVIC to develop and maintain its product listings as a vast number of promotional opportunities are available through this initiative, ie: travel guides (eg: NRMA), websites (Visit NSW), and media. In January, 2015 an audit was undertaken which showed 84 listings for Narrandera shire with another 23 ready for inclusion.

d. Editorial and images are provided regularly to organisations such as Riverina Regional Tourism, Aurora Research (Accredited Visitor Information Centre Network), Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia, and Regional Development Australia – Riverina, Destination NSW for inclusion in a range of digital media marketing opportunities.

ON‐LINE AND FACE‐TO‐FACE VISITOR SERVICES On‐line and face‐to‐face Visitor Services work together to provide an enhanced service. The majority of visitors to the NVIC carry smart phones and tablets but still ask for travel advice, print literature, and personalised local knowledge of what they can see and do in Narrandera. A friendly face and warm welcome complement information visitors obtain electronically prior to visiting.

An expectation to capture and convert 2% of website visits into an additional 1,000 shire visitors annually would not be unrealistic.

10 | P a g e

The majority of visitors still want print, either because they don't trust the technology, feel that print is more convenient or the digital version of the leaflet doesn't contain the right information. It is an important standard of the NVIC to provide information in the format favoured by visitors. Technology cannot replace the staff, who know more about the local destination than a computer ever could. As yet an electronic device does not feel passion, nor can it think flexibly or utilise its people skills to capture and funnel visitors who need to be made to feel special, who need a personalised approach, or who seek reassurance that they really do want to visit and really will feel ‘welcome’. A 2013 study into the behaviour of domestic visitors showed that Visitor Information Centres ranked third behind the internet and “previous visits” as sources of all tourism information*, with an annual shift of 2% to internet and mobile technology. The report found that the role of VICs in supporting technology remained important as a source of pre‐visit information (Strategic Directions Paper 2014).

Visitors are increasingly using the internet and mobile devices for travel planning and bookings. Smartphone penetration amongst Australian adults is now at 88% (up 12% year on year), and projected to reach 93% by the end of 2014 (National VIC Paper 2014).

At the moment visitors still want print, either because they don't trust the technology, feel that print is more convenient or the digital version of the leaflet doesn't contain the right information.

The emergence of digital technology must be embraced by the NVIC to assist in Visitor Services delivery. Developing a Narrandera Visitor App that visitors to the Centre are encouraged to download would effectively stimulate visitors’ interest in the shire’s attractions and services.

* Even use of a Smart Device App must be promoted and a Visitor Centre is an ideal location to support this.

3. Tour Services:

The NVIC attracts and assists with a range of experiences for tour groups through an on‐line presence, through strategic advertising (direct mailouts) and through general promotional activity.

a. The NVIC maintains a National Coach Tours Data Sheet which currently comprises 1210 entries. Examples of use include the promotion of specialised coach parking in Narrandera’s CBD and the Narrandera Town Tours with the offer to package or bundle a range of itineraries. Similarly targeted approaches are also made to social, car and cycle clubs.

b. Tour group products that are available through the NVIC include:

Narrandera Nature Tours: Council’s Visitor Services and Ecotourism Officer conducts nature tours that offer education about Narrandera’s native flora and fauna, together with facts about local Wiradjuri culture. The standard tour comprises a guided walk of 3km (approx. 90 minutes). Tours can be tailored to suit different ages and interest groups and also bundled with other nature based experiences on request. The tours are particularly popular with school groups and international visitors. In 2014, 26 tours were conducted – more than double the previous year. Two nature tours have been undertaken so far this year with another 4 booked.

Narrandera Town Tours: An experienced volunteer tour guide boards the bus and entertains passengers with local history and anecdotes. The tours are aimed at Inbound Group Tours, Service Club Tours, Community Groups, Fundraising Tours and Social Club outings. All tours can be customized to accommodate unique interests; and lunch, morning teas and picnics can be organised by arrangement. Tour bookings are increasing with an average of one or two tours each month with 13 tours booked this year so far.

There have also been a number of familiarisation, study, media and visiting delegation tours that have been organised with the assistance of the NVIC, for example: National Parks and Wildlife Services and Chinese delegation visits.

11 | P a g e

Aside from localised experiences, itineraries that offer 5 different regional daytrips have been developed with the aim to capitalise on Narrandera being the ‘Heart of the Riverina’.

4. Event Management and Support Services: Narrandera Shire Council facilitates a strong Events Management and Support Services Program. Council’s Events Guide and supporting activity guide were named as an exemplar by Destination NSW during a 2‐day forum for the Murray and Riverina regions in Griffith in 2014.

Under the capacity of the Events and Visitor Services Officer (EVSO) role, Council’s Events Management & Support Services Program includes:

a. Australia Day: The EVSO liaises with the Australia Day Planning Committee and takes a lead

role to deliver this event. The EVSO coordinates and reports to Council and other relevant bodies the activities undertaken by the Australia Day Planning Committee, eg: undertaking risk assessments and reporting to Council’s insurer. The EVSO also advertises and promotes the Shire’s Australia Day activities through advertisements in the Argus, community announcements, media releases, Council’s event calendar and listing in the “What’s On”.

b. The John O’Brien Festival: Support given by Council’s EVSO includes:

Financial ‐ drafting budget, monitoring income and expenditure according to budget, processing and recording income received. This includes sponsorship, raffle ticket sales, competition entries and stallholder applications as well as processing accounts for expenditure.

Risk Management ‐ reviewing risk assessments and reporting to Council’s insurer.

Administrative support‐ creating application forms, certificates, writing letters.

Council’s EVSO prepares business reports to Council on event planning progress and seeking relevant Council recommendations.

c. Rod Run: The EVSO actively supports and assists with the Narrandera Rod Run. This includes seeking and processing sponsorship, processing stallholder application forms, assisting with the event application and risk assessment, as well as liaising with the Traffic Officer to provide assistance and equipment for traffic control.

d. Community Events: The EVSO provides guidance and professional assistance to community event organisers, processes event applications for Community Events held on Council’s land and promotes community events in the monthly What’s On listing and on Spirit FM as part of the monthly Events role radio interview.

e. The EVSO coordinates and maintains a calendar of events for the Shire ensuring the business

community and tourism operators are advised of forth‐coming events. The EVSO also creates the “What’s On” flyer which lists events occurring in Narrandera. The “What’s On” flyer is disseminated electronically each month to Visitor Information Centres throughout the Riverina, various media, Riverina Tourism, AVIC Network, Event Organisers throughout our Shire, our Accommodation Providers and our business houses. Hard copies are displayed at the NVIC and the Airport. The events listed are promoted through numerous websites and social media. In 2014 there were 165 events in total listed in Narrandera Shire’s “What’s On”.

Under a revised visitor services structure staff could package and bundle the attractions and activities in the Shire for marketing to special interest and niche markets.

12 | P a g e

f. Event Processing: The EVSO assists with, and receives and processes event applications. This includes checking details, risk assessments and insurance, liaising with the Traffic Officer if Traffic Plans are required and liaising with Council’s Outdoor staff regarding access to power and waste management for events and ensuring all relevant approvals are sought. The EVSO processed 29 event applications in 2014.

g. Event Bids and Event Prospecting: The EVSO prepares submissions for events and develops bid documents and prospectuses.

h. The EVSO makes sales calls (direct marketing and follow‐up) targeting events that have their

own management team, but need a location and venue, for example car rallies.

i. The EVSO recently assisted the Narrandera Bowling Club in securing the Grade 4 State Pennant Finals which will be held in conjunction with Leeton Soldiers Club.

j. The EVSO has also been working with community members in their application to host the 6th

Annual National Tractor Trek in Narrandera.

5. Other Services: a. Contact Data Sheets & Mailing Lists: The NVIC has developed and continually updates more

than 20 contact data sheets that are used in a broad range of community and economic development applications, with some examples being:

Businesses of the Narrandera Shire (220 listings)

Community, Welfare and other Not for Profit Organisations (331 listings)

Market Stallholders (227 listings)

Event Organisers (37 listings)

National Coach Operators Data Sheet (1210 listings)

The majority of these listings have marrying electronic distribution lists that were created by the NVIC for more resource efficient communication provision (e‐mails save time, the environment and money).

b. Community Support: The NVIC provides point of sale for various charitable organisations and community groups’ fundraising activities, eg: Koala donations, Tiger Moth merchandise, event tickets, raffle tickets, Lions cakes, etc.

c. Provides assistance with the publicity and marketing of a range of local businesses, products and amenities.

d. Information Packs: The NVIC has developed and provides 4 types of information packs. These are provided to current and prospective visitors, residents and investors, and conference and event attendees:

A new resident pack provides general Shire information.

A Standard Visitor Information Pack is designed to attract current and prospective visitors and tour groups.

The “Make the Move” Information Pack is designed to attract new, current and prospective residents and investors.

The “Conferences and Meetings” Pack is designed to attract and secure prospective conferences, events, etc. When appropriate, this is combined with a Bid Proposal / Prospectus.

e. Market Research: The NVIC undertakes market research in a variety of ways including:

Sourcing and reporting on weekly % of occupancy with a sample group of accommodation providers. This data is used in a quarterly report to the Economic Development and Tourism Manager to measure the impact of marketing activities, for example marketing and media campaigns, events and conferences.

13 | P a g e

Demographic Information attained through continuous counter survey and reported 6 monthly, eg: point of origin, travel mode, found out about Narrandera through?

Target/Focus research, eg: Bike & Hike, RV Friendly camping, events, etc.

COSTS OF RESOURCING THE NVIC – OPERATING BUDGETS The following financials have been compiled with two options being presented for different models of service delivery:

Option 1 – NVIC opens 52 hours per week (existing hours) Option 2 – NVIC opens 45 hours per week

1. Building and Operations Budget

Description 2013/2014 Budget

2014/2015 Budget

2015/2016 Original Budget

Option 1 2015/16

Option 2 2015/16*

Electricity & Heating $ 4,680.00 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0

Telephone Expenses $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00

Printing & Stationery $ 3,758.00 $ 1,758.00 $ 1,758.00 $ 1,758.00 $ 1,258.00

Photocopy Expenses $ 2,953.00 $ 2,953.00 $ 2,953.00 $ 2,953.00 $ 2,453.00

Security & Bdg Maint $ 12,085.00 $ 12,085.00 $ 12,085.00 $ 12,085.00 $ 11,085.00

Postage Expenses $ 1,804.00 $ 1,804.00 $ 1,804.00 $ 1,804.00 $ 1804.00

Cleaning Expenses $ 6,417.00 $ 14,987.00 $ 14,987.00 $ 14,987.00 $ 12,987.00

Volunteer Program $ 2,674.00 $ 1,674.00 $ 1,674.00 $ 1,674.00 $ 1,674.00

Subscriptions $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00

Display Marketing Infrast $ 7,102.00 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0

Furniture and Fittings $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00

Visitor Guide Distribution $ 3,060.00 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0

VIC Professional Dev $ 3,060.00 $ 2000.00 $ 2000.00 $ 2000.00 $ 2000.00

Depreciation $ 18,554.00 $ 21,450.00 $ 21,450.00 $ 21,450.00 $ 1,450.00

Total $ 81,819.00 $ 74,383.00 $ 74,383.00 $ 74,383.00 $ 70,383.00

Option 1 – No change (9.1% efficiency since 2013/14) Option 2 – 5.38% efficiency (14% since 2013/14) *

*Reduction of $4,000 in Cleaning, Security, Building and Maintenance, Administration Costs (Photocopying and Printing). N.B ‐ The NVIC Building and Operations budget was reduced by 9.1% in 2014/15 which is being carried through to 2015/16 with no CPI.

2. NVIC Retail Management

Budget Expenditure Income


2013/14 $56,100 $82,798 $26,698

2014/15 $51,100 $76,950 $25,850

Original 2015/16 $51,100 $75,000 $23,900

Option 1 2015/16 $41,100 $70,000 $28,900

Option 2 2015/16 $40,000 $66,000 $26,000

14 | P a g e


Option 2 – Retail expenditure budget reduced by 12% in 2015/16 with an increase in forecasted net profit to $26,000 (from $23,900) which is a 8.8% profitability increase.

In the past 5 years the Centre’s retail operation has generated a revenue stream of $127,458.79

Retail Sales Income ex GST

Expenditure incl Stock on Hand

Net Merch Profit

2010/2011 $57,995.27 $31,644.88 $26,350.39

2011/2012 $73,204.06 $41,109.51 $32,094.55

2012/2013 $74,122.56 $51,807.49 $22,315.07

2013/2014 $73,211.71 $46,984.54 $26,227.17

2014 to Jan 2015 $41,363.04 $20,891.43 $20,471.61

$127,458.79

Graph 1 – NVIC Retail Financials

2010/2011

2011/2012

2012/2013

2013 ‐ April, 2014

$31,644.88

$41,109.51

$51,807.49

$46,984.54

$57,995.27

$73,204.06

$74,122.56

$73,211.71

$26,350.39

$32,094.55

$22,315.07

$26,227.17

NVIC Retail (Merchandise) Operations

Expenditure (incl Stock on Hand) Retail Sales Income (ex GST) Net Merch Profit

15 | P a g e

3. NVIC Visitor Services Staffing Costs


2013/14 $27,842.34 $152,674.91 $180,517.24

2014/15 $24,329.57 $172,727.89 $197,057.46

Original 2015/16 $24,769.19 $179,901.96 $204,671.16

Option 1 2015/16 $21,094.24 $176,906.99 $198,001.23

Option 2 2015/16 $19,256.77 $171,143.22 $190,399.99

Option 1 ‐ Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 3.25% with the NVIC open 52 hours per week.

Option 2 ‐ Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 7% with the NVIC open 45 hours per week.

4. Total Operating Budget ‐ Narrandera Visitor Information Centre

Total operating budget not including budgeted retail net profit:




Option 1 ‐ Total 2015/16 Operating Budget: $272,384.16










16 | P a g e

RETAIL OPERATION The NVIC delivers an effective retail operation guided by the following rationale:

1. To enhance the Visitor/Customer experience. 2. To showcase, epitomise and exemplify the local and regional experience. 3. To deliver a revenue stream in order to offset some of the operational costs of resourcing and

staffing a Visitor Information Centre.

The NVIC has a Merchandising Policy emphasising that merchandise sold at the Centre is either produced locally or speaks to the Narrandera Shire. It is pleasing to note therefore that in the past 3 years, the local produce / product sold through the NVIC has increased from that of just 2 suppliers to 25 suppliers. All gourmet products are either local or from the Riverina region and all cultural souvenirs are created by Aboriginal people who have lived or still live in the Narrandera Shire. Chart 2 – What the NVIC Customers are Purchasing

More popular items are:

a. Drinks, ice‐creams and confectionery – 26% of income b. Souvenirs ‐ making up 24% of income c. GST free food (jams, cordials, etc) – 18% of income d. Cultural Souvenirs (local aboriginal artefacts and artworks) – 10% of income

The above are an indication of what the customer wants and do not indicate profit margins, ie: mark ups on souvenirs average around 80% whereas gourmet, ice‐creams, drinks and confectionery have minimal mark ups of 0% to 30%.

Ice Cream/Drinks/Lollies

etc 26%

Gourmet 18%

Apparel/Accessories 3%Cards & Stamps 3%

Books 10%Maps 4%

Sundry 2%

Souvenirs 24%

Cultural Souvenirs 10%

An operational efficiency can be achieved by reducing the breadth of the current merchandise availability, for example – reduce the variety of souvenirs and soft toys, which would reduce the number of hours the Centre Coordinator invests in ordering and accounts.

Less retail stock will promote a more boutique‐style Centre with displays of quality merchandise that better represent local product.

17 | P a g e

CONSIGNMENT AND SALE OF LOCAL PRODUCT

Whilst consignment, particularly of local product, has been undertaken at the NVIC in the past, it proved to be inefficient and labour intensive. The NVIC current practise is to purchase goods outright through Council’s financial system. A nominal mark‐up is attached to local product. In a small number of cases where it is reasonable to believe that locally produced items will not sell if a mark‐up is applied, those items are sold at cost price. Note that the Leeton Visitor Information Centre does not have a strong retail ‘business’ focus, and operates on a ‘goodwill’ philosophy, as outlined in the following information provided by its Coordinator: LVIC has a small range of souvenir items with a stronger emphasis placed on having operators offering their items on consignment (hobby interest suppliers) with no commission charged thus eliminating souvenir stock overhead costs for the Centre. We are currently in the process of transferring some of our more prominent consignment suppliers over to direct suppliers as we have exceeded our income targets for the 2014/15 financial year and with only five direct suppliers that we buy product from, this is a great result. Increased interest in local food producers product has been generated from the high level of goodwill built up by LVIC through our strong social media presence and Leeton Tourism Red Carpet Day events. Both Centre’s methods and philosophies are succeeding in achieving their individual goals.

OFFERING COFFEE OR AN IN‐HOUSE CAFÉ OR COFFEE SHOP The possibility of a cafe or at minimum a coffee shop operating out of the NVIC has been raised, discussed, reviewed and reported, on many occasions over the years. In January 2014 a workshop of NVIC volunteers and staff was convened to propose key elements for consideration in future plans for the NVIC. The focus of the workshop was to brainstorm ideas to develop new income streams for the NVIC and to build on existing ones. Below is an extract from the workshop report: All participants opposed the concept for a café/coffee shop, citing the following rationale:

Competition ‐ Local Government should never compete with local business

Capture & Funnel – The major demographic to the NVIC is transitory (passing through). We aim to stop the travellers and encourage them to spend a bit more time in Narrandera. Directing visitors to an attractive and convenient eatery in town is one of our more popular ways of achieving this

Disengage Business Community ‐ Risk souring the sound relationships currently enjoyed between Council and the local business community. This would result in broad negative impacts

Disengage Local Community – At this stage, the most vocal in opposing the café concept are individual residents and members of community organisations

Saturated Market – Narrandera Eating Guide currently lists 14 operators listed under Cafes, Coffee Shops, and Takeaways; plus another 11 listed as restaurants and bistros

High Risk Business – Cafes have a high failure rate

Quality Control – As a leased business, quality standards for example food, customer service, hygiene and cleanliness will be very difficult to police

18 | P a g e

Anything less than the highest quality service will harm the reputation of the NVIC, Narrandera and the Council

Loss of Visitor Services tenet – examples were provided where the café business becomes the focus and public services such as visitor information and community economic development activities, eg: events promotion wanes

The money spent on constructing and fitting out a cafe would swallow up the major portion of the loan ‐ resulting in a huge missed opportunity to develop an outstanding VIC that could prove pivotal in Narrandera’s future.

NVIC STAFFING

In 2011, the Narrandera Shire Visitor Services and Marketing and Events divisions of the (now superseded) SPOD Department underwent a structural re‐organisation. Prior to this reorganisation, the NVIC was staffed as follows:

a. Visitor Services Officer 35 hours / week b. Eco‐Tourism Officer 25 hours / week c. Volunteer & Retail Coordinator 21 hours / week d. Visitor Services Casual (Sundays) 4 hours / week e. Casual ((Relief, School holidays, Weekends) 7.5 hours / week

Total staffing hours 85 hours / week *Ecotourism Officer contribution to Visitor Services was minimal with the position being part of the Elsa Dixon Grant Funding Program and focussed on promotion of natural and cultural heritage. Under the current structure, the NVIC is staffed:

a. Events & Visitor Services (Job Share) 39 hours / week b. Visitor Services & Eco‐Tourism Officer 25 hours / week c. Centre Co‐ordinator 28 hours / week d. Visitor Services Casual (Sundays) 4 hours / week e. Casual (Relief, School holidays, Weekends) 9 hours / week


Note that hours under the existing structure includes the events function of Council

A cafe/coffee shop may bring an extra income stream into the NVIC and/or to Council If a traveller / visitor asks for coffee, staff and volunteers first attempt to direct them to the CBD and/or Adams Street, and if the traveller is time pressed and looking for something more convenient, let them know that coffee is available at Gillenbah to the south and Grong Grong to the north.

A coffee vending machine was available in the NVIC in 2010. Feedback from previous staff and volunteers was that it posed hygiene, health and safety issues; and did not provide coffee of a quality that the visitor was expecting.

19 | P a g e

Chart 3 – Breakup of staff hours at the NVIC

The most significant change to the structure was in moving the Events function (originally undertaken as part of the Marketing/Events Project Officer role) from Council Chambers to the NVIC. The rationale for this change was that housing the Events function at the NVIC would deliver more accessible, streamlined and effective Events service. This role was designed to be a 3:2 mix of Events and Visitor Services but the Events function has grown significantly.

From April, 2013 to November, 2014, a school‐based trainee undertaking a Certificate III in Venues and Events (Customer Service) was engaged at the Centre. The trainee’s normal working hours were every Saturday and second Thursday ‐ averaging 10.5 hours / week. There are currently four (4) casual staff registered to work at the NVIC on an on‐call basis, that is to backfill vacancies occurring for example when staff are on annual leave. Under a revised structure, it is recommended that the NVIC is staffed:

a. Visitor Services Officer 28 hours / week b. Centre Co‐ordinator 28 hours / week c. Events Officer (alternating Saturdays 3.5 hours / week d. Visitor Services Casual (Sundays) 4 hours / week e. Casual (Relief, School holidays, Weekends) 7 hours / week


f. Events Officer ‐ Located at Chambers, 35 hours / week of which 7 hours is at the NVIC on

alternating Saturdays

Visitor Services Casuals4%

Events Officer40%

Vistor Services & Eco Tours26%

Centre Co‐ordinator

30%

It is now evident that the events role must solely be dedicated to events development, facilitation and support and should not operate from the NVIC

The Visitor Services and Customer Service functions distract from and impede the efficacy of the role. That the visitor senses this fact is troubling to the EVSO, fellow staffers, volunteers and others.

Removal of the Events role from the NVIC will boost efficiency for both visitor services and events, including allowing for more strategic and targeted approaches for external events.

20 | P a g e

There are three defined functions that currently operate out of the NVIC:

1. Events and Visitor Services Officer

The Events and Visitor Services Officer (EVSO) role encompasses a broad function that ranges from normal promotional activities, advice and assistance, through to event administration, that is: development, preparation, planning, organisation and implementation. The main duties and tasks that the EVSO undertakes include: a. Coordination of internal Council events and civic functions b. Events Processing – assistance and advice to ensure compliance with conditions of approval

with relevant organisational policy, procedures and legislation c. Risk assessment and reporting for insurers d. Accurate financial records are maintained in accordance with Council’s practices and standards e. Establish and maintain databases, checklist proformas and other documents, administrative

systems and corporate records to maximise efficiency f. Event Promotion through various media / mediums g. Liaise with other authorised Council officers, Government Authorities and relevant

stakeholders h. Liaising with committees, volunteers and local community in general i. Developing and maintaining the Events Calendar and Monthly “What’s On in the Narrandera

Shire” j. Venue logistics and set up k. Assist with research and coordinate the development and maintenance of relevant event and

corporate reference material to ensure that up to date information is readily accessible to the Economic Development and Tourism Manager, Council and other relevant stakeholders.

2. Visitor Services & Eco Tourism Officer

a. Customer service ‐ Dealing with enquiries in person and by post, email and phone b. Brochure management – checking and replacing brochure stocks c. Conducting and coordinating town and nature tours d. Researching and promoting attractions and accommodation e. Keeping up to date with changes in tourist activities and events

f. Assisting in the Updating of the State Tourism Data Warehouse

3. Centre Coordinator a. The daily running of the Centre b. Facilitating the Volunteer Program c. Managing the Retail Business ‐ controlling and monitoring the NVIC retail budget to ensure the

centre achieves its objectives in the most cost‐effective way d. Maintaining the NVIC’s Accreditation standards e. Developing and monitoring the NVIC’s Business Plan and Operations Manual f. Customer Service ‐ dealing with enquiries in person and by post, email and phone g. Managing the NVIC rosters for staff and volunteers h. Recruiting, inducting, training, managing, encouraging and appraising casual staff (10 in past 4

years) i. Supervising, inducting, training, managing, encouraging and appraising trainees and students

undertaking practical placements / work experience (6 in past 4 years) j. Supervising, assisting, encouraging and appraising one permanent part time staffer

21 | P a g e

k. Implementing health and safety regulations and monitoring practices, ensuring that the Centre is run in accordance with policies and guidelines

l. Ensuring that the Centre is well presented, efficiently organised, easy to use and accessible m. Surveying, monitoring, planning and predicting what the public wants n. Promoting the NVIC’s services and assisting with the marketing of other local amenities o. Gathering information about and working with local community groups, businesses and visitor

attractions p. Researching and visiting attractions and accommodation q. Keeping up to date with changes in tourist activities and events r. Researching, interpreting and supplying a variety of statistical and demographical data s. Networking with relevant stakeholders and participating in local, regional and state initiatives t. Producing guides and other marketing literature u. Communicating information to members of the public v. Promoting the NVIC’s services and assisting with the marketing of other local amenities w. Engaging, motivating and encouraging the local community – individuals and organisations

Volunteers (Ambassadors): The NVIC operates its volunteer program in accordance with current statutory requirements with best practice standards identified in Volunteer Australia Inc National Standards for Involving Volunteers in Not‐for‐Profit Organisations; and within the laws set out in accordance with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the Work Health and Safety Regulations, 2012. The NVIC is supported by a team of fourteen (14) volunteers whose efforts are integral to achieving the best outcomes for the Centre. A static roster operates two (2) half‐day shifts per day from Monday to Friday. Although difficult to put a true dollar worth on the valuable contribution made by our volunteers, in a 2012 state government report, Volunteering Australia costed the volunteer hourly rate at $24.09. If we cost at $20 per hour, our volunteer contribution is estimated at over $40,000 per year. This does not include extra hours undertaken for example during events. In the 2013/2014 financial year, $665.18 was expended on the NVIC Volunteer & Tag Program. At a minimum, the Volunteer members of the NVIC team undertake the following duties:

a. Meet & Greet and information provision b. Retail sales c. Ensure that the merchandise is well stocked and displayed d. Pricing and putting away stock e. Maintain Brochure Stocks ‐ copying and folding in‐house brochures and leaflets; Checking that

sufficient quantity of brochures and other information is current and available f. Administrative tasks, eg: banking, mailing, answering the telephone, preparing information

packs for mailing. Another contribution made by the NVIC volunteers is in their individual and collective talents, experiences and connectivity to the local community.

COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY – LEETON NVIC Open Mon – Fri – 37.5, and Sat‐Sun 10 hours = 47.5 hours / week Leeton VIC Pre 2010 Structural Review:

a. Tourism Manager 35 hours / week b. Tourism Officer 35 hours / week c. Events Co‐ordinator 35 hours / week d. Tourism Casual (Saturdays & Sundays) 6 hours / week


22 | P a g e

Précis from Leeton Structural Review:

The most significant changes to our structure were moving the Events Coordinator role to the Council Offices (still a 35 hour per week role which is job shared), the introduction of a full‐time Trainee Visitor Services & Events Officer aimed at a Year 12 school leaver offered on an annual basis replacing the Tourism Officer role from our previous structure and eliminating the need for casuals by employing two permanent‐part time Visitor Services Officers for 20 hours each in the fortnightly pay period to work across lunch hours during the week (11am to 1pm) and cover alternate weekend/public holiday opening hours from 10am to 3pm. We only use casual employees on weekends when either of our Permanent Part‐Time Visitor Services Officers are on leave.

Leeton VIC Post 2010 Structural Review:

a. Visitor Services Coordinator 34.65 hours / week b. Trainee Visitor Services & Events Officer 34.65 hours / week c. 1 Visitor Services Officer 10 hours / week d. 1 Visitor Services Officer 10 hours / week

Total staffing hours 99.3 hours / week VISITOR SERVICES STAFFING HOURS TO OPENING HOURS RATIO COMPARISON Extensive field research was undertaken of other Visitor Information Centres to gain an understanding of the NVICs resourcing compared to other AVIC Level 1 and Levels 2 Centres. The results below indicated that Narrandera under the existing structure is moderately resourced in terms of Visitor Services staffing hours against opening hours. Under the proposed structure of reducing Visitor Services staffing hours, but allocating the events officer 1 day per week to resource alternate weekends the ratio changes from 1.48 to 1.35, which drops the Centre just below Temora in resourcing capacity. Should Council reduce the opening hours of the NVIC to 45 and close an hour more from Monday to Saturday, but retain staffing the ratio would increase to 1.56 in line with Hay Visitor Information Centre.

AVIC Level 1

Griffith Visitor Information Centre: 2.08

Dubbo Visitor Information Centre: 1.91

AVIC Level 2

Leeton Visitor Information Centre: 1.88

Hay Visitor Information Centre: 1.56

Narrandera Visitor Information Centre: 1.48

Temora Visitor Information Centre: 1.43

Deniliquin Visitor Information Centre: 1.04

AVIC Level 3

Nil

Not Accredited

Coolamon Up to Date Store N/A

Junee Museum and Visitor Centre N/A

West Wyalong Library and Visitor Centre N/A

23 | P a g e

TIME IN MOTION STUDY A time in motion study was conducted with the Visitor Centre Coordinator and the Events and Visitor Services Officer to determine the breakdown of tasks against hours worked. When referring to Visitor Services and Customer Service the distinction is that Customer Service is servicing the person, whereas Visitor Services is everything that supports that such as recording of statistics, making sure maps are available etc. Note that the Visitors Services/Eco Tourism Officer was on leave at the time of the Study. Chart 4 – Breakdown of use of Centre Coordinator’s hours Dec‐Jan 2015 (inclusive)

Chart 5 – Breakdown of use of Events and Visitor Service Officer’s hours Dec‐Jan (inclusive)

Admin16%

Community & Econ Devt

1%

Building, Maint, Security

5%

Reports ‐ Council & other18%

Customer Service14%

Events7%

Marketing4%

Retail8%

Staffing Matters19%

0%

Visitor Services3%

Vol Program5%

Admin8%

Customer Service9%

Events68%

Marketing1%

Retail2%

Review2%

Staff Matters3%

Visitor Services

7%

24 | P a g e

The results indicate that only a small percentage of the Events Officer’s time is being devoted to Visitor Services with most of the administration and customer service tasks being event related. Similarly the Visitor Centre Coordinator is being distracted by events, community economic development and project reporting. OTHER FACILITIES

The NVIC offers appropriate and dignified access to its buildings and facilities for persons with a disability.

Provide adequate disabled access and facilities, as set out in Australian Standard 1428.1.

Provide adequate parking facilities, either at the AVIC or in the near vicinity.

Provide adequate coach parking and car and caravan facilities that comply with Local Government requirements, either at the AVIC or in the near vicinity.

We will actively encourage, welcome and respond to a range of feedback mechanisms, eg: surveying, visitor books and Council’s customer request and grievance response systems.

TOURISM TOUCHSCREENS AND OUTSOURCED INFORMATION KIOSKS


1. That Council investigate divesting commercial premises which it owns in the Wade Ferrell Building, Twynam Street Narrandera.

2. That $20,000 of the proceeds are to be used to purchase technology to set up Visitor Information Kiosks at both Narrandera Library and Narrandera Airport. Council at its May Ordinary meeting of 2014 requested that research be undertaken regarding the practicality of securing and installing Professional Internet Kiosks in the Narrandera Library and/or the Leeton/Narrandera Airport. Below is the costing for a professional externally purchased Internet Kiosk and Touch Screen. Should Council agree to acquire kiosks for both the Library and Airport, the same system would be provided for free to the Visitor Information Centre for the first 5 years, and the touchscreen for free to the Visitor Centre for the first 3 years. The cost to place kiosks at the Library and Airport (minimum 5‐year contract) is $41,790. The cost to place screens (minimum 3‐year contract) is $15,470. The NVIC Organisational Review and Restructure and Visitor Centre Report will indicate that the installation of an Internet Kiosk will be far more cost‐effective and beneficial to service delivery. Manual updating of kiosk content would require substantial ongoing time and resources to keep it up to date. The library staff do not have the capacity to do this given their focus on library services and the lack of advertiser take up for the touch screens makes this option unviable.

25 | P a g e

PROFESSIONAL INTERNET KIOSK

DESCRIPTION CONTRACT TIME COST PER QUARTER

TOTAL COST

Kiosk A – Library – 27” Aspire 5 years $ 995.00 $ 19,900.00

Kiosk B – Airport – 27” Aspire 5 years $ 995.00 $ 19,900.00

Plus one off production set up costs for the A & B Kiosks

1 time only $ 995.00 $ 1,990.00

$ 41,790.00

Kiosk C – VIC 5 years FREE FREE

TOURISM TOUCHSCREEN – Please note: below costs are for screen only and do not include any costs associated with furniture / fittings which would be extra.


TOTAL COST

Touch Screen A – Library = $595 3 years $ 595.00 $ 7,140.00

Touch Screen B – Airport = $595 3 years $ 595.00 $ 7,140.00

Plus one off production set up costs for the A & B Touch Screens

1 time only $ 595.00 $ 1,190.00

$ 15,470.00

Touch Screens C – VIC 3 years FREE FREE

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The Gateway and Satellite Approach Whilst located directly on the Newell Highway, the NVIC affords Council a genuine advantage in any endeavour to position itself to be chosen as an important Gateway Centre for the region. This will be of particular significance in any ongoing cooperative approaches taken with Leeton Shire. Narrandera’s positioning at the junction of the Newell and Sturt Highways and in the heart of the Riverina may lose its significance in a battle to achieve a gateway status rather than a satellite status, if the NVIC is no longer located on the highway, placing it more on a par with the location of the Leeton NVIC. The Gateway and Satellite approach to VICs delivers information services across a broader area. Gateway centres are intended to provide the resources to support and grow the value and viability of the smaller satellite locations. It is a reasonable supposition that the State Government merits this approach. It would be judicious for Council to take the lead to strategically place itself as a model that will attract governmental (and corporate) buy‐in for the NVIC to become that Gateway Centre.

Independent Feasibility Study – Redeveloping the Narrandera Visitor Centre

The Independent Feasibility Study would examine how Narrandera would position itself as a regional centre with increased financial revenue and a cohesive range of visitor information delivery platforms that would increase visitor numbers and visitor dispersal in the Narrandera Shire and the region. Areas for consideration would include:

Visitor Information Centre (upgrade to Accreditation Level 1)

26 | P a g e

Establishment/management of satellite centres

Home for industry and tourism associations (paid hosting of displays such as Agri‐Australis, local wineries, regional meeting hub for associations such as RRT)

Retail space (expansion for high turnover items)

Showcase space (cultural, historic, local business, arts or producers on a monthly rotational basis)

Allied businesses or associations space (National Parks and Wildlife)

Coffee shop (tender, short term lease to pre‐established local business under a satellite methodology where visitors are directed to their larger shop for the full experience, example ‘coffee shots’ similar to a wine tasting)

Interactive Experience (hazelnut demonstration)

Specialist services (Accommodation booking service, packaged experiences)

Site for packaging itineraries and package development

Overview of Digital services potential including digital retail, booking services and event ticket sales

Hosted paid coach group bundled tours (of the Visitor Centre offerings and then they go on to the remaining packaged offerings)

Expanded parking facility

Interactive theatrette

Develop the Centre so it has a greater connection with the Narrandera Park oval (eg creation of a sitting area overlooking the park and oval)

Recycled environmentally friendly construction methods and materials (eg solar powered Centre)

CONCLUSION

Reshaping and honing the current staffing structure at the NVIC will deliver a broad range of operational and cost efficiencies. This will significantly benefit Council, Narrandera Shire residents and other stakeholders.

The rationalisation of project related activities from the Visitor Centre Co‐Ordinator and Visitor Services roles will benefit core Visitor Service delivery.

Relocating the Events Officer to Chambers is crucial in moving forward for the NVIC. Investing in a business plan to further develop the Centre and ascertain the feasibility of positioning the Centre as a regional gateway is an important step for the service to be delivered to its full.

References

Narrandera Visitor Information Centre Business Plan (2012‐2015)

New South Wales Accredited Visitor Information Centre Network Manual

Australia’s Accredited VICs: A Strategic Directions Paper 2014

NSC Product Development and Destination Marketing Strategy 2011

Attachment 3 - Detailed Summary of the Four Stakeholder Consultation Sessions

Visitor Information Centre Staff Consultation Session

Location: Council Chambers

Date: 9 March 2015


Present: Helen Ryan (Facilitator), Trent Cormie (Review Member), Lee Reavley (VIC Staff), Ashleigh Harrison (VIC Staff), Liz Lawton (VIC Staff), Andrew Brown (Review Leader) Apologies: Craig Taylor (Review Member)

Location

The current location is the best location. It is in the best place to capture and funnel

It is right on the highway, highway traffic can be captured and directed into the main street

It’s in the park, families can stop, children can play in the park, families can come to the Visitor Centre

You don’t have children crossing the highway to get to the Visitor Centre

The Centre is in an opportunistic position, people will stop there as a transitory market

Do we need a physical centre

There are more people researching before they get to Narrandera, but they still come into the VIC after doing their own research and come in and ask for local knowledge. The ‘local’ point of view is still valued

In face to face it is possible to offer local knowledge that provides a value add that isn’t available using a device

Technology does sometimes break down. The grey nomads feel safer with face to face confirmation being provided

The Visitor Centre provides an important service in getting people to break up their trip. These impulse stops result in people wanting to come back and stay on their return trip

If the physical structure wasn’t there, a member of staff would have to take care of the Tiger Moth display, the airport and Caltex displays, the Grong Grong accreditation etc. This does not seem workable

Shared Service Delivery

In terms of costs, to incorporate Visitor Centre staff into the Library building and maintain close to the current level of services, the library building would have to be renovated.

If library staff delivered Visitor Services they wouldn’t be able to concentrate properly on their own services (example run a children’s activity). It would be very difficult for the library staff to service Grong Grong, the airport etc to ensure those services were kept up to date. The importance of Visitor Services would be diluted; staff could have difficulty in prioritising. The same could apply if shared with Leeton Visitor Centre.

A lot of caravanners pull up out the front of the Visitor Centre and go for a walk to get to East Street because they don’t want to drive into the town itself due to difficulty in finding parking.

Sharing with Leeton would dilute the service. If it would be people operating out of Leeton promoting Narrandera, or vice versa, both would lack the continuity that visitors need and one Centre could become more dominant over the other.

The internal operational side would work okay (eg. centralised system) but there is a concern that the visitors wouldn’t receive the best service.

In a cross council arrangement there may be parochialisms that could result in your Visitor Centre being sidelined and losing its self-determination.

A shared service with Leeton creates a regional service rather than a local service.

Locals are in the best place to promote local.

Locals are passionate about the town they live in.

Not aware of a Library with Visitor Services incorporated into it that has turned out to be a great option.

If Visitor Services were provided out of Council Chambers this would undermine the depth of what a Visitor Information Centre is about. The service would become a brochure distribution point.

The NVIC becoming a level three visitor centre would limit the service and quality of service.

Quality and professional standards would slip.

Where you have a VIC that ends up with one person from Council running it and manned by volunteers, the opening hours reduce and it ends up opening on demand.

What the NVIC does well

Positive feedback is frequently received relating to the excellence of customer service and information.

The level of community engagement is better than most other centres.

The Narrandera VIC provides eco tours that include information about Aboriginal culture – providing points of difference to what other Centres have on offer.

The high quality of content presentation in the Centre.

The NVIC researches, monitors and responds to satisfaction levels expressed in the surveys available at the Centre.

The NVIC’s promotion of local product is exceptional. Locals are encouraged to sell their local product through the Visitor Centre. Visitors value being able to obtain locally-made product and the quality of that product at the NVIC.

The retail layout is strategic, and is based on best practice of retail presentation.

Good storage available on site if used correctly.

Ideas for the future

Having events removed from the NVIC building would create a great efficiency.

Taking the extraneous out, such as Events, the NVIC should be able to produce even better from where it is situated now.

Better management of online communications in relation to visitor services.

The Visitor Centre could take over the bulk of online visitor communications.

The physical layout of the VIC building could be refurbished and remodelled.

Visitor access to Internet and wi-fi.

A corner to ‘Charge your device here’, which has the benefit of keeping people in the Centre longer while providing a great service.

Baby change tables could be included in existing outside amenities.

Improved staff facilities - working environment, toilets and staff room.

Improved facilities to hold staff meetings with confidentiality.

Security of product. The Narrandera VIC still suffers from stolen items.

Workplace, health and safety (such as exit points from the building).

Security aspect of having another way out of the building.

Other Comments

NVIC is currently open 52 hours a week.

A large portion of the NVICs staffing hours is covered by Events.

The Events and Visitor Services Officer has visitor services in the title but little work has been done on visitor services in the past three years due to events being the dominant function.

If Events was removed from the Visitor Centre and located at the Council Chambers, VIC staff and volunteers could focus on delivering Visitor Services rather than events.

Removing the paperwork and facilitation of events, would make a huge difference. The Visitor Centre would still be the site for event ticketing, enquiries etc.

If the Centre opening hours were changed from 9-5pm Monday to Saturday to 9:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Saturday it would lose the final half hour from 4:30pm to 5pm which is when the most funnelling of people into accommodation takes place.

All things being considered though, there does not seem to be a better time frame than 9:30am to 4:30pm if hours are to be reduced.

If accommodation information is displayed on the inside windows of the building people can still find a place to stay.

Some people still need face to face service.

Reduced opening hours may negatively impact on Visitor Services for a while until people get used to the shorter opening times.

Having staff working before opening doors is productive.

An option for staffing hours could be allowing an additional 15 minutes before and after opening time morning and afternoon, a total of ½ hour per day. 9:15am to 4:45pm day.

Volunteer and Casual Staff Consultation Session

Location: Newell Motor Inn

Date: 10 March 2015


Present: Helen Ryan (Facilitator), Trent Cormie (Review Member), Craig Taylor (Review Member), Liz Lawton (Review Member), Andrew Brown (Review Leader), Warren Magnusson (Review Member), Jenny Grigg (VIC Casual Staff). Volunteers: Betty Bradney, Lesley Bailey, Des Edwards, Min Dawson, Jan McGilvray, Vi Bobbin, Jackie Adams, Pat Mulholland, Pam Beazley.

Location

The existing NVIC site has the greatest capture opportunity blended with other appealing aspects such as the playground, spacious park, toilets, ample parking and the Tiger Moth all in a one stop with the Visitor Centre.


Yes, for personal directions and personal enthusiasm. When you’re travelling you always look for the ‘I’ sign. Devices don’t always provide all the information people need. Devices aren’t ‘enthusiastic’.

The Visitor Centre is the public face of Narrandera. If it closed Narrandera would be reduced to a small village. As services are withdrawn, a town dies. The withdrawal of the Visitor Centre would contribute significantly to the death of the town.

Not only do visitors need a physical building, but the Narrandera Visitor Information Centre needs to remain the number one Centre within the area if any amalgamations take place.


Those volunteers present appeared strenuously against the option of the Visitor Centre sharing a service with the library, and most emphatically against the Centre being moved in with the current library.

A major reason the NVIC gets the visitation it does is because of where it is. It is capturing a passing audience that it would not capture if situated in the main street in the library building.

Volunteers shared their own experiences as travellers, and cited the unwillingness of many travellers to have to try to find a park in the main street of a town to seek visitor information. If convenient parking is not provided then travellers pass by.

Families pull up outside the Visitor Centre and kids run around the park while parents go into the Visitor Centre. The ‘one stop’ of the park and Visitor Centre would be lost.

Library is not an ideal location.

Main Street is not an ideal location. Highway traffic does not automatically traverse through it.

At the current location accessing the Visitor Centre is safer because they can park on the same side of the road, get out of the car and access all the facilities on that side of the road at once.

The Arts and Community Centre building across the road was not favoured as an alternative Visitor Centre site. The safety factor of crossing the road to get to the park and Tiger Moth was considered a serious issue.

If the Visitor Centre shifted to the Arts and Community Centre building, there would be reduced space in the building for community and arts events.

The current position of the toilets outside the Visitor Centre leads to opportunistic buying from people who see jams and toys through the windows of the VIC as they walk past. This draws them into the Centre and they can then be directed into the town and to activities and places of interest.

The toilets in the Arts and Community Centre would need fixing.

One volunteer favoured the concept of having the Visitor Centre situated in a coffee shop offering AVIC Level 3 Visitor Services, in principal. However, the remaining responses were that it was a bad idea. That the operator would be focused on their business, not on Visitor Services.

Any kind of privatisation would result in the enterprise focusing on purely trying to make their own money. They wouldn’t care about pushing tourism as the first priority. They would buy their stock from overseas. It would be the end of local produce being an appeal as it is in the current Visitor Centre.

It is important that Council gets on the front foot to ensure that the Narrandera Visitor Centre is the hub Centre of the area we amalgamate with, and doesn’t end up a lesser spoke Centre. A business plan needs to be created now, to ensure Narrandera’s Visitor Centre is not left behind.

Should Narrandera and Leeton share visitor services, concern was raised that if the primary Centre was in Leeton it would result in people bypassing Narrandera to go to Leeton for information and then not returning.

Becoming the lesser Centre can end with no service offered at all.

Narrandera has the better position and should be the hub.

Narrandera needs to aim to be the gateway centre, not a satellite centre.


Information is provided quickly

Very helpful

Friendly volunteers

Volunteers are there because they want to be there, have a passion for the town, are community oriented, can provide local knowledge, and are involved in different organisations and know of a wide variety of activities available in the town

A lot of feedback has been received at the Visitor Centre saying the service is excellent

Able to assist with questions about local history

Wonderful Centre, airy and spacious

Air-conditioned, a welcome stop off for people feeling the heat or cold while travelling

Very prompt greeting and offer of assistance

It is not a private entity that lacks the level of interest in providing the services

Street maps are readily available along with local knowledge

The quality and variety of local product is valued by visitors

The variety of quality soft toys is well-known and people come asking for them


A touch screen featuring iconic local images

Theatrette or room that pushes a unique aspect of the town (eg one Visitor Centre does this to feature a rare marsupial found in its shire)

An interactive experience for children

An honesty box could help towards running costs of a theatrette or interactive experience

Spend some money on refurbishment

Encourage Councillors’ commitment to the VIC and to developing and deepening understanding of the Visitor Centre and the way it operates

Refurbish the Visitor Centre and toilets

A shower in the toilet block with coin operation was suggested. A baby change table was suggested

The Visitor Centre is the hub of the town. Tourism is business. The Visitor Centre needs to promote all of the shire’s outdoor assets. A dedicated officer focused on offering packages and conferences could do a great deal for the town

While some staff work in the VIC office with their core focus on Events or other non-customer service roles in terms of image, this can seem as though the staff working in the VIC office don’t want to get up and serve customers and can create a misconception of poor customer service from an outsider’s perspective

A uniform for staff might provide a better image

Some VICs have a T-shirt for volunteers

Prices are hard to read on the articles for sale. This is frustrating for volunteers who don’t work every day, and may not be best customer service due to people having to bring things to the counter to ask the cost. Some people are uncomfortable having to ask

Many visitors ask for coffee. There were some strong objections to the concept of offering coffee from the Visitor Centre

Reduced staff hours or increased stock turnover are two ways to correct financial inefficiencies without having to change the level of service

It was suggested to take more stock on consignment so money isn’t outlaid up front

An extra room for the Visitor Centre to allow proper displays

The carpet needs upgrading

The middle office in its current structure needs to be removed. Not a good layout

Toilets need to be replaced

Entire place needs a repaint

First thing people do when they arrive in a town is go to the toilets, if they’re not up to scratch this creates a bad first impression

Building looks tired, that’s the impression that people get

Other Comments

Concern was expressed about seeing redundancies in the department.

Would need to seriously consider not having the VIC open during consistently quiet periods.

Some centres operate only with volunteers on the weekends.

Any time closed means you’re not there to sell the town.

If the Events role worked out of Chambers, the person in that role would have the advantage of uninterrupted time.

Taking Events out of the VIC gives a clearer idea of what resources are needed to

deliver visitor services.

The possibility of a separate section for the Events officer within the Visitor Information Centre was raised, but not possible under the existing Centre layout.

A volunteer drive may be a good idea to get more volunteers.

A recent closure of the Visitor Information Centre over lunch time was raised. It was noted that Council has an obligation to provide staff with a lunch break, and this may result in the Centre closing if the Centre cannot be resourced at that time.

The town entry points were raised, with a request that directions inviting people to the Visitor Centre at the entry points be strengthened.

Concerns were raised that the Centre Coordinator and Visitor Services officers are spending a lot of time on tasks outside of Visitor Services. Concerns were raised relating to the Visitor Centre Coordinator not being able to focus on core Visitor Services due to other expectations of her role.

Community Representatives Consultation Session


Date: 11 March 2015


Present: Helen Ryan (Facilitator), Trent Cormie (Manager Development & Environmental Services), Liz Lawton (Visitor Centre Coordinator), Andrew Brown (Economic Development & Tourism Manager), Warren Magnusson (Representing Community) Community: Sue Foley, Michael Lyons, Ken Murphy, Nick & Marg Jensen, Barbara Bartholomew, Margaret Duff, Gemma Meier

Location

Existing location provides necessary good access

It provides a one stop shop for park, toilets and Tiger Moth Museum in its current location

People do not need to cross the highway, they can park on the same side as all the services, Visitor Centre, Tiger Moth Museum, children’s playground, park, toilets

Travellers simply pull into the ample parking right on the highway, and they are still only a block from the main street of the town if they want to walk in

The location is ideal


A physical building is very important

Travellers are often retirement age and resistant to technology

When the Visitor Centre is closed people are looking for information on where to go, accommodation, camping etc. The ice cream van located on the Newell Highway experiences this regularly

There’s a huge fault in the internet issue. A lot of people want to check on things in person. People come in and want the local reassurance

Internet is a critical part of delivery but doesn’t replace face to face service

Definitely need the Visitor Centre. It is not the time to consider a coffee shop at the moment. That will divert from the importance of this review

The Visitor Centre isn’t for making money, the person about making money is the shop keeper up the main street. Get rid of the soft drinks at the Visitor Centre and point people into town for those things

A proportion of the travellers won’t go off the highway

A lot of locals don’t use the Visitor Centre but they do not want it shut. They see it as the profile, this is our face. The hours may need to be reviewed

If the Tiger Moth Museum got isolated from Visitor Centre staff that would be a real problem

One of the things that works well is it’s in the park, with toilets and playground, if you remove the building you could solve one problem and create three

The area is a precinct of park, toilets, playground, Visitor Centre (current location), Tiger Moth Museum, Arts and Community Centre

It was noted that there is no competition between online and face to face when it comes to Visitor Services, both need to be provided


A local producer noted that Leeton has been positive in their involvement with displaying the producer’s products

Leeton would need Narrandera as the gateway because Narrandera is on the highway

We need to look at developing the centre as a gateway VIC.

The Narrandera Visitor Centre could be the front for the wineries in Griffith

Narrandera used to be called the Gateway to the MIA

Narrandera should be the ‘Big Name Department Store’ of the whole region, to showcase Narrandera and the region’s offerings, to establish ‘This is where you stay to do the day tours of the region’

Being able to buy a selection of products at the Visitor Centre, or go to the producer for them offers a good choice to visitors

One local cultural producer noted if the Visitor Centre wasn’t there, they wouldn’t get half the tourists they get, and that the Narrandera Visitor Centre turns over four times the amount of what Leeton and Griffith do of the producer’s product

Shared services with another Council department such as the library would not work

The location of the library doesn’t suit

The library is stretched beyond its limits for space and is shabby and has run out of money. At State level grant funding has dried up for quite a number of years for libraries. To try to jam another service in that location and off the highway, doesn’t work on every level

A shared service would be inefficient

Caravans would not go down the main street to access the Visitor Centre either in a shared service or stand-alone

A location near the Arts Centre would work but would have to be a separate building

Could locate the VIC across the road in the Arts and Community Centre building

Crossing the highway is an issue. If the Centre was moved to the Arts and Community Centre building a safe crossing would have to be created across the highway

Visitors choosing to walk to the main street have to cross the highway to do so

A location in the main street would be a disaster

The Narrandera Visitor Centre, where currently situated, is in the prime physical local if Narrandera and Leeton Shire Councils merge


The Visitor Centre provides a high standard of ‘meet and greet’ to visitors

Open 7 days a week

The Visitor Centre is the Face of Narrandera. It represents the community and does so very well

Showcases local products

The standard of local knowledge provided by staff and volunteers, which is highly sought after by visitors

The Visitor Centre maximises the potential of Narrandera to tourists

It is the first point of call for people to understand what Narrandera has to offer

Generates support and income for other attractions and activities

People are lazy and don’t want to walk around a corner to get information. The Visitor Centre is right on the highway to just stop and walk right in

People travelling need ease of access which the Visitor Centre in its current position provides

Beautiful building to work in because it allows those inside to be part of what’s happening outside. Outlook allows you to look out


A number of those present felt that housing the Events Officer position in a different building would have the value of reducing confusion in relation to having a position based at the Visitor Centre that is not primarily focused on Visitor Services

The Events Officer role doesn’t need to be located at the Visitor Centre. It should be located at Council or should be in a bigger building where everyone could be together

It was suggested that a recommendation from the meeting be to bring Events together with Marketing located at Chambers

Another building could be purchased down the Newell for the NVIC. This would make Narrandera the guardians of existing architecture and heritage. The existing Visitor Centre could have an amphitheatre

The cost of purchasing another asset and setting up a ‘new’ VIC was questioned

The arts and music for which the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre is purposed, couldn’t take place due to space constraints if the Visitor Centre had a presence there

A new building is needed

The building is dated

The current building structure doesn’t function well for the staff in it

The Centre could utilise a room off the main building for a monthly display of what’s in the Parkside Cottage Museum

The Visitor Centre should be part of the new Arts Building

The Centre could offer an accommodation consultation service that works in tune with accommodation providers on a membership basis. (Note that it was explained

that the Visitor Centre currently has a service established where it will phone an accommodation provider for a visitor)

An objection was raised to the concept of the Visitor Centre being an accommodation booking hub including that the Centre is there to represent the whole of the community, that staff would be stretched, and that the training that would be required would take away from the rest of the Centre’s experience

Narrandera’s digital visitor services needs to be a presence (Narrandera App, electronic guide). If technology can pick up where the Visitor Centre shuts the doors at 5pm it would be a good investment

The name should be changed to ‘Visitor Centre’. It was explained that the word ‘information’ must be included to maintain accreditation

Community at large don’t know all the services the VIC offers. The Visiting Friends and Relatives market needs to be more greatly engaged

People have a general path planned for their holiday but not the specifics

The Visitor Centre needs to be the central Centre for the region

No one will drive improvement. It has to come from the community. The whole community needs to get involved to support the Visitor Centre

The Visitor Centre needs to direct people towards agritours

A uniform would be good, and name badges. Volunteers should also wear uniform

Other Comments

Put everyone in a building with all the staff (including the Economic Development & Tourism Manager and Administration Officer) in the back of it, with Visitor Services as a shopfront in that building

Resourcing to fulfil the opening hours required for the level of accreditation was the reason why the Events role went into the Visitor Centre. However, Events has evolved and Visitor Services is almost a non-existent part of that role now

Lots of towns work on a seasonal basis of hours relating to demand for services. If you could work around patterns of usage then reduced opening hours for the Visitor Centre might make sense, but data would need to be examined relating to the Centre’s visitor flows

It is sometimes easier to just have blanket hours across the year and ride the quieter times. Customers get confused if you close seasonally

‘Enormous amount of community opposition to having a coffee shop in the Centre’. Until recently you couldn’t buy coffee after certain hours Saturday or Sunday but Narrandera now has coffee shops that are open on those days

A lot of places would give their right arm to be on a highway

Be very careful thinking of having cafes and coffee shops promoting visitor services, they are focused on their retail, not selling visitor services

The Deniliquin Visitor Centre is fabulous. Temora has a lovely Visitor Centre. Exciting to go to places like that because it inspires you to look to your own community and ask why can’t we have that?

Retailers as a general group could do a lot to work with the Centre

Developing a place where we could have functions and incorporate the management of events and marketing in the building could be really good

It was suggested to bulldoze or lease the existing building, strip the events team out and put Events in offices with the Economic Development & Tourism Manager. Consider leasing another heritage building and having Visitor Services at the front of it

Remove the current building and replace with a large heritage building brought in off a farm with a beautiful veranda. If money wasn’t an issue, this could be a really beautiful building

Service and Community Groups Consultation Session


Date: 11 March 2015


Present: Helen Ryan, Trent Cormie, Liz Lawton, Andrew Brown, Warren Magnusson Community: Ann Black (Narrandera Business Group), Des Edwards (Lions), Robert Norrie (Rotary), Terry Smith (Landcare), Louise Mulligan (Barellan Progress Association), Maureen Dodds, Gwen Lee (Soroptimists), Judy Crowe (Soroptimists), Murray Hall (Narrandera Tourism Inc), Joy Moloney (Inner Wheel), Joy Norrie (Inner Wheel), Julie Briggs (Narrandera Arts and Community Centre) Note taker: Jenny Ryan Apologies: Trent Light (Narrandera Arts and Community Centre), Bob Manning (Grong Grong Progress Association)

Location

Visitor Centre is in the right place, if you took it from the highway people wouldn’t visit it

Location provides facilities (park, playground, toilets)

Location allows parking for big vehicles, park for kids to play in, somewhere to walk the dog, stretch your legs, close enough to main street to go for a walk

Wonderful location in the park, often the first point of contact with the humans of Narrandera and is usually a very positive one. Visitors want to meet the local people

It is in the perfect location now

People won’t go into the main street to go to the VIC

The government expects shires to provide services such as Visitor Information Centres

Caravans can park close to the main street at the Visitor Centre in its current location

RV Travellers look for the ‘I’ Sign which they feel indicates there’ll be a park, a toilet and a local to tell what’s around to be seen


Yes, they need the physical location

The need for a physical side of Visitor Services will stay level and the technological side will continue to grow


Vehemently against moving the Visitor Centre in with the library – it is a ridiculous idea

Economically to combine with the library might appear to be a winner with reduced costs but you’re further away from the main street than the current position

Amalgamation will happen. We need to be on the front foot and take the leading role with Narrandera as the hub and Leeton as the spoke (satellite) centre

The community needs to put pressure on Council and say we want the Narrandera Visitor Centre as a regional hub

Narrandera is running thin to the ground with resources while Leeton VIC is different. They get a lot of support

The thought of shared services would make more sense if we were looking at that resulting in a higher level of service and the recognition of the unique location we have which is the gateway to Leeton and Griffith

If Council had a coffee shop with Visitor Services operating out of it, the coffee shop

would be in competition with local businesses

Grong Grong and Barellan could lose the service provided

There would be competing interests within any shared service or business

The Visitor Centre would lose its accreditation level 2. In most cases it is the café that is the major business and the VIC as a level 3

A Visitor Centre with coffee shop, art gallery, Visitor Services and bikes for hire works well in some towns


Friendly and supportive staff

Being local gives personal knowledge

Volunteers are beyond marvellous

Provides assistance to external events

Very convenient location to assist with events

Pleasant visit when you walk in, warm greeting

Outlet for promotion of local produce and local businesses

It is the go to place for information and contacts on pretty much anything in town, source of information for local people

Staff make phone calls and emails to check in with community groups as needed

The personal touch is appreciated

Can’t beat the person inside with the local knowledge

Contact with our staff and our volunteers is really valued

PowerPoint of local imagery on big screen is good

Toilets are very important

Disabled access

Provides a good service to establish the type of accommodation people are looking for and direct them accordingly


Toilets need improvement

Prices need to be better marked on products, particularly on produce. Older people like to be able to pick things up and look at the price

The new toilet blocks in the park are locked at 6pm. Those toilets might need to have a sign directing people to the 24 hour toilet

If the Visitor Information Centre is closed, it needs a signboard with a map of Narrandera and the things of interest pinpointed on the map to scale

Change tactic, build or renovate the Centre. Go to companies (eg. wineries) to have a display at a cost. This would generate income to offset the costs of the building upgrade

Get a really professional approach

If more parking was needed, some of the park on the side near the church could have some space sacrificed for a designating parking area

Offer a free wi-fi hot spot outside the Visitor Centre

The current VIC building is not well designed outside or inside with an office sitting in the middle of the Centre that you can see through, and the Centre looks cluttered from the outside. A cleaner more consistent approach to how we provide information and the use of a lot more imagery would be effective

Stronger Councillor engagement in the Visitor Centre would be valued by the community

If Councillors don’t look after the town through tourism, jobs will go and the town will suffer

Coach and bus companies should be provided with information of what Narrandera can do for groups

Other Comments

The busiest visitor times are just after 9am and from 4:30pm to 5pm

If the Centre closed at lunch time with staff operating on split shifts morning and afternoon the split shifts would still prove costly

You could still trim off time morning and evening. Maybe close at 4:30pm

The questions were raised of whether it was enough to be open 10 – 2pm on a Sunday, and whether hours might be cut back during the week? It was noted that Sunday nights are a quiet night for accommodation houses

It was thought that the visitor mix would be more Visiting Friends and Relatives market on weekends that might not want accommodation

The Visitor Centre used to be manned by volunteers on weekends. Other Visitor Centres are manned solely by volunteers

To have the Visitor Centre open longer could be maybe done with less of paid staff and more volunteers? The volunteer/local knowledge is valued by tourists

Volunteers are very important but they don’t have the same obligation as paid staff to fulfil their shifts

A drive for more volunteers was suggested

People might have shied off from being volunteers due to concern about having to operate computers and EFTPOS

The suggestion of placing an advertisement in the paper to invite further volunteers was raised

It was noted that the Visitor Centre currently has 4 backup volunteers to fill in during other volunteer absences. Volunteers need to be really high quality because they are ambassadors for the town

Volunteers are a decreasing group of people, all getting older. There is a danger in putting too much reliability on volunteers

The question of reducing the AVIC accreditation and offering Visitor Services out of another business was raised. The response was given that this would be a message to the community that the Visitor Centre was about to close

Should be all about pushing Narrandera, keeping it going. It’s the best place to live. Reduction in service would be death to the town

If the Visitor Centre reduced its accreditation status, the Grong Grong Visitor Services couldn’t be sponsored by Narrandera

Rather than dropping a level, the Narrandera Visitor Centre needs to maintain its current level or go up a level (ie. AVIC Level 1)

If Events was removed from the Visitor Centre and the people were focused purely on Visitor Services this might be better, provided they were liaising back with Visitor Centre staff when town events were in progress

Attachment 4 – VIC Staffing Structure

Existing Structure – Narrandera Visitor Information Centre

Economic Development & TourismManager

Council Chambers

Visitor Centre Coordinator Part-time 28 Hours

Visitor Services andEcotourism Officer

Part-time 25 Hours

Events Officer Full-time Job share

39 Hours VIC

Visitor Services Casuals13 Hours per week

Attachment 5 - Narrandera Visitor Centre Standard Operating Procedures

1. Emergency Action Guide

2. Merchandising Policy

3. Carbon Reduction Policy

4. When it is quiet…

5. Opening Procedures – NVIC

6. Opening & Closing Procedures – Tiger Moth

7. Banking and Mail

8. Balancing Cash Register

9. Customer Response Times

10. Closing Procedures – NVIC

11. Statistics

12. Petty Cash

13. Ticket Sales

14. Displaying Print Collateral

15. Responding to Illegal and/or Dangerous Activities

16. Managing Concerns and Complaints

17. WHS Response Procedures

18. First Aid Equipment

19. Trainee Employees

20. Excellence in Customer Service

21. Visitor and Operator Enquiries

22. Processes for Event Calendars & Promotion

23. How to Operate Cash Register

24. Process for Ordering and Storing Brochures

25. Storing Photos in the Tourism Department Image Library

Attachment 6 ‐ Current and Proposed Operating Budgets – Narrandera Visitor Information Centre

The following financials have been compiled with two options being presented for different models of service delivery:

Option 1 – NVIC opens 52 hours per week (existing hours) Option 2 – NVIC opens 45 hours per week

1. Building and Operations Budget Description 30 June, 2014

Actual 2013/2014 Budget

2014/2015 Budget

2015/2016 Original Budget

Option 1 2015/16

Option 2 2015/16*

Electricity & Heating Expenses $ 237.89 $ 4,680.00 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0

Telephone Expenses $ 5,634.40 $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00 $ 5,906.00

Printing & Stationery Expenses $ 3,034.20 $ 3,758.00 $ 1,758.00 $ 1,758.00 $ 1,758.00 $ 1,258.00

Photocopy Expenses $ 4,214.49 $ 2,953.00 $ 2,953.00 $ 2,953.00 $ 2,953.00 $ 2,453.00

Security and Building Maintenance $ 13,441.96 $ 12,085.00 $ 12,085.00 $ 12,085.00 $ 12,085.00 $ 11,085.00

Postage Expenses $ 1,584.03 $ 1,804.00 $ 1,804.00 $ 1,804.00 $ 1,804.00 $ 1804.00

Cleaning Expenses $ 12,628.70 $ 6,417.00 $ 14,987.00 $ 14,987.00 $ 14,987.00 $ 12,987.00

Volunteer Program $ 711.65 $ 2,674.00 $ 1,674.00 $ 1,674.00 $ 1,674.00 $ 1,674.00

Subscrip. to other Organisation Exp $ 910.26 $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00 $ 1,074.00

Display Marketing Infrastructure $ 4,936.00 $ 7,102.00 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0

Furniture and Fittings $ 8,692.42 $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00 $ 8,692.00

Visitor Guide Distribution $ 0 $ 3,060.00 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0

VIC Professional Development $ 1647.37 $ 3,060.00 $ 2000.00 $ 2000.00 $ 2000.00 $ 2000.00

Depreciation $ 23,072.86 $ 18,554.00 $ 21,450.00 $ 21,450.00 $ 21,450.00 $ 21,450.00

Total $ 80,746.23 $ 81,819.00 $ 74,383.00 $ 74,383.00 $ 74,383.00 $ 70,383.00

Option 1 – No change (9.1% efficiency since 2013/14) Option 2 – 5.38% efficiency (14% since 2013/14) *

*Reduction of $4,000 in Cleaning, Security, Building and Maintenance, Administration Costs (Photocopying and Printing). N.B ‐ The NVIC Building and Operations budget was reduced by 9.1% in 2014/15 which is being carried through to 2015/16 with no CPI.

2. NVIC Retail Management

Budget Expenditure Income


2013/14 $56,100 $82,798 $26,698

2014/15 $51,100 $76,950 $25,850

Original 2015/16 $51,100 $75,000 $23,900

Option 1 2015/16 $41,100 $70,000 $28,900

Option 2 2015/16 $40,000 $66,000 $26,000


Option 2 – Retail expenditure budget reduced by 12% in 2015/16 with an increase in forecasted net profit to $26,000 (from $23,900) which is an 8.8% profitability increase.

3. NVIC Visitor Services Staffing Costs


2013/14 $27,842.34 $152,674.91 $180,517.24

2014/15 $24,329.57 $172,727.89 $197,057.46

Original 2015/16 $24,769.19 $179,901.96 $204,671.16

Option 1 2015/16 $21,094.24 $176,906.99 $198,001.23

Option 2 2015/16 $19,256.77 $171,143.22 $190,399.99

Option 1 ‐ Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 3.25% with the NVIC open 52 hours per week.

Option 2 ‐ Visitor Services Staffing budget reduced by 7% with the NVIC open 45 hours per week.

4. Total Operating Budget ‐ Narrandera Visitor Information Centre

Total operating budget not including budgeted retail net profit














Attachment 7 ‐ Costing for a Professional Internet Kiosk

PROFESSIONAL INTERNET KIOSK


TOTAL COST

Kiosk A – Library – 27” Aspire 5 years $ 995.00 $ 19,900.00

Kiosk B – Airport – 27” Aspire 5 years $ 995.00 $ 19,900.00

Plus one off production set up costs for the A & B Kiosks

1 time only $ 995.00 $ 1,990.00

$ 41,790.00

Kiosk C – VIC 5 years FREE FREE

TOURISM TOUCHSCREEN – Please note: below costs are for screen only and do not include any costs associated with furniture / fittings which would be extra.


TOTAL COST

Touch Screen A – Library = $595 3 years $ 595.00 $ 7,140.00

Touch Screen B – Airport = $595 3 years $ 595.00 $ 7,140.00

Plus one off production set up costs for the A & B Touch Screens

1 time only $ 595.00 $ 1,190.00

$ 15,470.00

Touch Screens C – VIC 3 years FREE FREE

Attachment 9 – Shared Service Delivery for NVIC and LVIC

Existing Structure – Narrandera Visitor Information Centre

Allocation of Visitor Services hours: 77 VIC opening hours per week: 52 Ratio of Visitor Services Hours against VIC opening hours: 1.48

Economic Development & Tourism Manager

Council Chambers

Visitor Centre Coordinator

Permanent Part-time 28 Hours

Visitor Services and Ecotourism Officer Permanent Part-time 25 Hours per week

Events and Visitor Services Officer

Job share 39 Hours

VIC Events 28 Hours

Visitor Services 11 Hours

Visitor Services Casuals 13 Hours per week

Existing Structure – Leeton Visitor Information Centre

Allocation of Visitor Services Hours: 89.3 Opening Hours per week: 47.5 Ratio of Visitor Services Hours against VIC opening hours: 1.88 *Leeton Shire Council have suggested they may further reduce opening hours down to 43 per week. Should Leeton VIC reduce to 43 hours per week the ratio is: 2.08

Director Planning and Environment

Council Chambers

Visitor Services Coordinator

34.65 Hours per week

Visitor Services Officer 10 Hours per week Weekends and PH

Permanent Part Time

Visitor Services Officer 10 Hours per week Weekends and PH

Permanent Part Time

Visitor Services Trainee34.65 Hours

Events Officer 35 Hours per week Council Chambers

Possible Shared Service Structure – Narrandera/Leeton Visitor Information Centres

Visitor Economy Coordinator

Narrandera/Leeton VICs 34.65 Hours (three week RDO)

Co-funded by NSC and LSC 14 Hours NVIC and 20.65 Hours LVIC

Tourism development, Staff supervision, Volunteer coordinating, VIC operation.

Visitor Services Officer 15 hours per week

Weekends and PH

Permanent Part Time

Narrandera VIC AVIC 2

Open 363 Days per year

Leeton VIC AVIC 2

Open 363 Days per year


Weekends and PH

Permanent Part Time


Sunday

Permanent Part Time

Visitor Centre Coordinator28 hours per week

Visitor Centre Coordinator30 hours per week


Weekends and PH

Permanent Part Time

Narrandera Visitor Services Hours per week: 74 Proposed Opening Hours per week: 52 Shared Service Reduction in staffing hours per week: 3

Leeton Visitor Services Hours per week: 80.65 Opening Hours per week: 47.5 Shared Service Reduction in staffing hours per week: 8.65

Narrandera VIC comments – The events officer would be relocated to the Council Chambers allowing visitor services to be the focus of centre operations. Operating efficiencies across both VICs would include: Centralisation of STDW, databases, electronic distribution lists, one site to take a lead on social media (promoting events, visitor information etc), rostering, volunteer management and inductions, retail and most other operating systems.

References

Reports, Papers and Studies

Australia’s Accredited VICs: A Strategic Directions Paper 2014

Greenhill Research and Planning 2011

Narrandera Visitor Information Centre Business Plan (2012‐2015)

Narrandera Shire Council Traffic Study 2014

New South Wales Accredited Visitor Information Centre Network Manual

NSC Product Development and Destination Marketing Strategy 2011

Narrandera Shire Community Strategic Plan 2012

Work Health and Safety Act 2011 Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 Narrandera Visitor Information Centre Customer Satisfaction Surveys Narrandera Visitor Centre Standard Operating Procedures Manual Urban Enterprise 2013 ‐ Visitor Information Futures Project 2022 VIC Consumer Trends 2013 National Visitor Survey 2013 Consumer Research Report 2011

Tourism Research Australia ‐ The Impact of Regional Visitor Information Centres on Visitor Behaviour

Websites

Source: Volunteer Australia Inc ‘National Standards for Involving Volunteers in Not‐for‐Profit Organisations’ http://volunteeringaustralia.org/wp‐content/uploads/VA‐National‐Standards‐for‐involving‐volunteers‐in‐not‐for‐profit‐organisations.pdf.

Source: Tourism Research Australia – Local Government Area Tourism Profiles http://tra.gov.au/statistics/Regional‐overview.html

Source: RV Futures Forum 2013 http://www.segra.com.au/segra13ConfProc/presentations/Day3‐RVFuturesForum‐GrowthAndValue.pdf