Current State and Future Vision
Whilst the Far West NSW region currently receives 200,000 visitors per annum, the tourist industry in the region is not as sophisticated as many other areas.
The digital economy can help to grow the tourist industry mostly through raising awareness of what the region has to offer. This complements some of the other areas of this report including:
- Rebranding of Broken Hill – social media and the internet could, and should, be central to the relaunching of the brand. Smaller tourist operators who understand the internet and social media can “piggyback” on the overall rebranding to promote their own individual businesses
- Virtual mining tours as previously mentioned. Virtual tours range from:
- Simple panoramic views that can promote the area (see for example Uluru virtual tour,http://embed.panedia.com/vst/vtplayer?map=pwbdpllf)
- More complex and immersive virtual tours using sophisticated software. Tools like secondlife.com have been trialled and used by large companies and institutions (IBM, Dell MIT) to provide virtual training and are slowly bringing virtual lives to a mainstream audience. This technology will continue to improve and gain traction with users as broadband becomes ubiquitous
- Providing public wi-fi access to visiting tourists is essential in the era of social media – these tourists are likely to post videos, pictures and comments to Facebook and Twitter pages in real time if they have access to the internet. This word of mouth marketing via the internet is a new channel for generating more interest in Broken Hill as a tourist destination
- Live-casting/web-cams of key attractions will promote the region. Examples include: wildlife webcams at watering holes where animals congregate, live casting of indigenous music performances
Actions
| What do we want to do | Why | Who will do it | When | Resources |
| Encourage coordinated use of the Broken Hill brand amongst businesses and community organisations so as to send a clear and consistent message about Broken Hill to tourists and prospective visitors | Currently the region is not optimising the tourism opportunities available to it | BHCC, tourism service providers. | Ongoing | BHCC, tourism service providers |
| Setup of web cams at natural areas of significance e.g. Menindee Lakes. | Highlight beauty, expanse, and biodiversity of our natural environment. | RDA Far West NSW to seek interest from Menindee based tourism operators. | Ongoing | Tourist associations in region, other supporting organisations. |
| Create an environmental blog about Menindee lakes and the prospective listing of a Ramsar site in the region (see http://www.ramsar.org). | Encourage environmental improvements, tourism. | RDA Far West NSW to facilitate with local organisations. | Ongoing | Community stakeholders |
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