Following decisions by its four member councils— Greater Shepparton City Council, Mitchell, Murrindindi and Strathbogie Shire councils— not to continue funding its operations GRVT will cease at the end of the financial year.
The board’s decision was also made in light of the State Government’s announcement of a tourism review throughout Victoria and an anticipated re-shuffle of tourism regions.
GRVT chair Annie Fletcher-Nicholls was disappointed but proud of what the organisation had achieved.
‘‘The Heart of Victoria has so much to be proud of in the tourism space— amazing natural attractions, an award-winning food and wine industry, remarkable and passionate operators and so much more,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s deeply disappointing that despite celebrating the great work we have done to grow the visitor economy by over $200million in the last five years our four member councils have opted to part ways.’’
In the last 12 months the Goulburn River Valley region, welcomed over 3.3million visitors, according to the group. This included an increase of 23 per cent in domestic visitation over the previous year, and a 17 per cent lift in international visitation.
Formally established in March 2011, Goulburn River Valley Tourism has been the regional tourism organisation for the Heart of Victoria for the past eight years.
Originally established as a result of a report that aimed to deal with the lack of tourism representation in the region, GRVT committed to supporting the marketing, development, networking and advocacy of the $781million tourism industry across its municipalities.
‘‘GRVT was built on the concept of an alliance to support the tourism operators and industry and without that alliance we have been left in an untenable position,’’ Ms Fletcher-Nicholls said.
‘‘I fear the tourism industry will need to look for new ways to market themselves, to develop their product and to get in front of regional and state decision makers.’’
GRVT thanked the tourism industry and the many individuals and organisations who had supported the growth of the region over the last eight years and sought to keep the industry informed over coming weeks.
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