The City of Holdfast Bay has taken home gold at the South Australian Tourism Awards.
It could be argued that tourism comes naturally to Holdfast Bay. Just 11 kilometres southwest of the Adelaide CBD, the easily accessible, character-rich city hugs nine kilometres of Adelaide’s premier metropolitan coastline. But the mix of retail strips, bustling nightlife, heritage, culture, and sport and recreational facilities is no happy accident according to Mayor Stephen Patterson.
“Tourism makes up 15 percent of Holdfast Bay’s total yearly economic activity, bringing in around $208 million and accounting for 12 percent of this city’s jobs. “We’re also very mindful of tourism’s ‘multiplier’ effect. Its benefits flow on to businesses across our city, so it makes sense for Council to invest heavily in the assets and activities that support tourism.”
Council actively supports local businesses and tourism operators, said Mayor Patterson.
“We work closely with local businesses to address our unique challenges and maximize opportunities. For instance our Glenelg Jetty Road traders experience a seasonal decline in trade over winter. We’ve tackled that by creating ‘Winter Wonderland’, a seaside ice rink that’s drawing thousands of off-peak visitors. “We’ve also developed a downloadable Investment Prospectus to assist local businesses in attracting investment. Significantly, vacancy rates in Jetty Road have dropped from nine per cent in June 2014 to 3.93 percent this year.”
Mayor Patterson said Council has invested over $7 million over the past two years to develop and renew key tourism assets. For their efforts, the City of Holdfast Bay won the Local Government Award for Tourism at the South Australian Tourism Awards in November.
Mayor Patterson said the Council’s innovative marketing strategy, #twosides, also contributed to the Tourism Award success.
“We created our #twosides tourism brand story for Glenelg to remind South Australians about their experiences at Glenelg and to inspire them to make a return visit, with the understanding that there is always another side to their Glenelg ‘story’. The key themes of Unwind, Nightlife, Celebrate, Seaviews, Soulfood, Playgrounds and Retail Therapy reflect the vibrant, fun, social and relaxed atmosphere that makes the Holdfast Bay area unique, and we’ve rolled these out on television, cinema, a tram wrap, street signage, events and digital media.”
Council hosts over 200 events each year, said Mayor Patterson, and, “with a packed program of summer events including the return of the Tour Down Under, and the new Glenelg Cinema set to open this summer, we’re looking forward to a bright future.”
