More than 40 tourism-related businesses and community groups have provided input into the Mildura region's most comprehensive strategy ever developed to enhance tourism signage, and ultimately tourism development throughout the municipality.
The Draft Tourism Signage Audit, Review and Strategy is now on public exhibition and aims to provide a clear and consistent experience for visitors to the region, encouraging them to stay longer and explore more of the municipality.
An exhaustive amount of work has gone into development of the draft document including:
- Complete tourism signage review and audit against Australian standards
- A report detailing outcomes and providing relevant assessments and recommendations
- Opportunities to improve directional and tourism signage
- Opportunities to improve visitor and local navigation and experience
- Review of existing signage application guidelines and provide recommendations for development of updated guidelines.
Councillor for Economic Development and Tourism Stefano de Pieri said tourism signage was vitally important for any tourist destination.
"Tourism signage may be something local residents pass by every day without giving much thought to, but for visitors to our area, this signage is critically important in helping them navigate and explore our region," Cr de Pieri said.
"It guides visitors to the many destinations across our large municipality and informs visitors of the attractions on offer and the services provided.
"Without it, visitors may not gain an appreciation for everything our region has to offer, or the attractions they may be missing out on.
"For our hugely important tourism industry, ineffective tourism signage could mean missing out on tens of millions of dollars in economic benefits, simply because visitors couldn't find their way around."
The draft strategy outlines 26 recommendations addressing a broad range of different signage including visitor information bays, promotional billboards, accommodation signage, town-specific attractions, drive trails, visitor maps and wine tourism signage.
Recommendations include a series of 'quick wins' which could be achieved in the 2023/2024 financial year, as well as longer term projects. They range from replacing old or ageing signage through to updating signage to provide more consistency, or entirely new signage at existing attractions.
There's still almost two weeks left for the community to view and comment on the full draft document at https://yoursay.mildura.vic.gov.au/. Feedback will taken until 5pm, Wednesday 9 November 2022.
