New management for Narooma Visitor Centre

Montague Arts and Craft Society Incorporated, known as MACS, will take over management of the Narooma Visitor Centre in May.

Eurobodalla Shire Council today endorsed MACS as the preferred tenderer for the management of the Visitor Centre following a call for expressions of interest last September. The other tenderer was Narooma Chamber of Commerce and Tourism.

The model proposed by MACS is similar to many visitor centres across Australia with a combination of paid staff and volunteers, and MACS will also aim to offer work experience opportunities to students.

MACS spokesperson Judy Glover says they are delighted with the news and look forward to partnering with Eurobodalla Shire Council to continue to deliver a great experience for visitors.

“The centre will be a one stop shop for visitors with plenty to offer including ongoing exhibitions of art and craft alongside the existing museum.

“Our plans are to revitalise the Narooma Visitor Centre as a cultural hub, with visual and performing arts and guest speaker events, as well as agribusiness initiatives that will showcase our local produce.

“We intend to work closely with organisations such as Narooma Rotary, Narooma High School, Eurobodalla River of Art, Narooma Men’s Shed and the Narooma Surf Live Saving Club to promote community involvement and support the town’s businesses, events and festivals,” Ms Glover said.

Eurobodalla Mayor Lindsay Brown congratulated MACs and said Council appreciated the work that both tenderers had put into their proposals.

“The Narooma community has been involved and provided great feedback throughout Council’s process of moving to a more sustainable visitor services model and we are very confident that MACS will provide an exceptional service to visitors and the Narooma community,” said Clr Brown.

The handover is subject to a contract being exchanged. Montague Arts and Craft Society Inc are considering the best dates for a handover and commencement of the contract, which is likely to be in May. They have advised they will sign a three-year contract with Council in the next few weeks.

The process to find an alternative and more efficient model for delivering visitor services in Batemans Bay is continuing. There will be further discussions with groups and individuals who expressed interest in managing the Batemans Bay Visitor Centre after the new contract for the Narooma has commenced.

Independent expert advice received during last year’s community engagement process recommended that the current visitor centre model was not the best use of Council’s resources, and that a greater proportion of the tourism budget should be allocated to web and digital promotions.