Monday 2 December 2019

Tourism numbers are down

in this state - or so they claim. I suppose they must know. I believe they go on the occupancy rate of the available beds or some such thing.
There always seem to be some lost souls wandering dazedly around. It would help if there were a lot more signs saying, "Middle of town" and "Go this way to get to the edge of town" or "The end of town is this way". Well, not quite but you know the sort of thing I mean. It is far too often that people stop me and ask things like where the nearest railway station is. 
And that is just part of the problem. We have to get people to come here in the first place. 
Oh yes, the cricket has been on "at the oval". Locals all know what that means. There is a street race for "motor heads" - something that causes the locals to believe they can do the same sort of thing outside the circuit. There is a bicycle race for people who think there is some fun to be had pedalling up hills in the heat. We have a "Festival of Arts" and "The Fringe" and they do attract people but they aren't cheap.
And of course there is food and wine. Those things aren't cheap either but they are often excellent.
But we also have some other attractions which don't get the attention they deserve. There are some which are readily accessible - like the Maritime Museum - but many others need a car to get there, things like a wild life park and all the many small towns brimming over with history.  They need public transport to get there and information about them to be readily available. 
Having the youngest kittens here last week also reminded me of how little there is for children to do, especially if it is too wet to be outdoors. You really need to be very local to know about some activities and, even if you do, then it is likely they are there just for a day.
We need to diversify. We need to get away from sport - because, surprising though it may seem, not everyone is interested in sport. We need to stop relying on food and wine too. It isn't possible to spend all day every day of a holiday eating and drinking. 
Some shorter walking trails might help the more energetic. More public transport to places would certainly help. 
And better signage would help. It would tell people where they are and, even better, where they are going. 

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