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Famil Tours

Mayor’s Desk – 23 February 2017

As I write this weeks mayor’s desk I’m sitting on a bus returning from our second successful Famil tour. Famil tours are a council initiative where bus loads (there were two today) of people interested in tourism from all across the region come together to be tourists in a town for the day. A couple of weeks ago we had a fabulous day touring Biggenden and today it was Monto’s turn to shine. These tours came about as a result of the election campaign where it was apparent whilst I was traveling the entire region and seeing the potential and beauty which lies within, this wasn’t the case with a large proportion of our population, with very few people having spent time in or even visited other towns.

We are an agricultural region, we grow and graze, and we do it really well, however we also have a fledgling tourism industry. What we lack in infrastructure we more than make up in people and passion. I’m not saying tourism is our be all and end all but I am saying the more diverse our economy the more strength in our region. We’ve all seen the caravans driving through our towns, well driving through doesn’t pay the bills, we need them to stop and to stay. We need to corral them in the region, to keep them here as long as possible. Tourism has the capacity to help us weather some storms and the great thing is that today almost 100 people have spent their Sunday working on the best ways to promote the North Burnett.

A further initiative we launched today is the “ask me, I’m a local” badges. These badges are worn by people willing to have a chat with tourists to our towns, people wanting to share stories, promote places and passionately advocate the beauty and opportunity of the North Burnett. And don’t worry, if you’ve missed the bus trips so far, there’s 4 more to come. If you would like further information on the bus trips or badges just give council a call.