District Tourism Service Level Agreements Set

20 November 2019 - Media release

Campaspe Shire Council has moved to extend two Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Echuca Moama and District Tourism Association (EMDTA) at last night’s council meeting.

Mayor, Cr Adrian Weston said the agreements were approved for the delivery of visitor information services and marketing the region.

“The SLAs outline the responsibilities and obligations between EMDTA and council in relation to the provision of these services,” Cr Weston said.

EMDTA is a membership based organisation with funding received through multiple providers apart from Campaspe Shire.

“It became apparent that the former SLAs were unclear in some areas and subject to misinterpretation. The new SLAs have been developed to be more specific and measurable,” Cr Weston said.

Requirements within the new agreements include:

Validation that at least 10 per cent of council’s financial contribution towards marketing is spent on promoting towns, events and attractions outside of Echuca Moama EMTDA to support not for profit businesses, community groups, fundraisers and list services in townships across the municipality Council to be responsible for ensuring funds for both visitor servicing and destination marketing is used to benefit the whole community A generic survey will be created annually by Campaspe Shire in collaboration with EMDTA to allow for a ‘pulse check’ of the sector Streamlined reporting guidelines to include activity details and related spend by EMDTA Reports from EMDTA are to contain specific, measurable, realistic and timely key performance indicators Cost breakdowns to be more specific and include all revenue contributed by other participants to provide a true cost to EMDTA Annual EMDTA business and marketing plans with proposed budgets will be made available

“More defined reporting requirements will make it easier to evaluate outcomes, remove any ambiguity in service delivery levels and provide more certainty for both EMDTA and council going forward,” Cr Weston said.

Council’s financial contribution to EMDTA for the 2019 – 2020 financial year is approximately:

$89,000 for destination marketing (plus GST) $235,000 for visitor servicing (plus GST)

Both the Destination Marketing and Visitor Services agreements are for three years (1 July 2019 – 30 June 2022).