The Banana Shire has launched a digital strategy to promote a little-known tourism gem on the edge of Queensland’s Outback.
Sandstone Wonders is the name locals give to the ancient escarpments that form the majestic backdrop to many of the historic towns, camping grounds and fishing spots that dot the region.
Located in central-western Queensland, the area boasts numerous national parks, and fishing and camping opportunities for visitors and Banana Shire is looking to boost tourism numbers to the area.
Despite its small capacity as a remote council, the Shire recently launched a comprehensive suite of digital strategies to encourage tourism.
The initiative was made possible through the assistance of Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas funding via Origin Energy.
“We know how important the visitor economy is to our region, we see the economic impact when the grey nomads pull up in our towns and fill our parks,” said Mayor Nev Ferrier.
“We love them and want them to feel welcome. But we also know that there are all sorts of travellers who would enjoy the natural camping experiences our area offers, the peace and beauty of our national parks and our fantastic country events.
“We know our local businesses and the community are right behind our efforts to tell the world about our place, because you’ll never be short of a willing word from a friendly local on the best places to snag a fish, boil a billy or grab a good feed,” The suite of digital platforms that Council has launched to tell their destination story includes a first-time tourism website (www.SandstoneWonders.com) and pages on major social media platforms.
These new platforms are supported by a significant investment in touring maps, video, photographic content and stories and the production of a new Simple Pleasures touring brochure.
So that local businesses could get up to date with digital technology and learn how they could participate in making their town a must-stop location for travellers, Council hosted six digital skills workshops across the Shire last month.
Frank Smallwood, project lead for the Council, said a focus has been on offering content suitable for mobile devices.
“We believe we’ve put a lot of the things in place we needed to be able to service the online consumer and with 85 percent of people travelling with their smart phones, we had to make sure all of our information is mobile-friendly and meeting their needs, which we’ve done.
“It’s been a big project and we’ve had help from great industry experts. But the journey doesn’t stop here, we’ll be continuing to work on our digital platforms and content and making sure that the industry is growing with us.”
