The Visitor Economy

In its simplest form, the visitor economy is all the money, investment and jobs created when people travel to a place for leisure, business or other reasons. While this is significant, behind the headline figures and direct economic benefit, there is a much wider impact. This ripple effect can be felt far and wide, across our industries, infrastructure and communities. And the visitor economy includes every industry that contributes to and benefits from the visitor experience. 

A vibrant visitor economy is a force for good. It provides stimulus and support to related industries and supply chains, such as food and drink, arts and culture, retail, construction, and transport. But its influence doesn’t stop there—the visitor economy can play a key role in contributing to the regeneration of towns and urban areas and the sustainability of rural communities. Growing the visitor economy means creating more opportunities for businesses and communities to thrive in harmony.

We need to be very careful of community sentiment in this endeavour and the social license to operate by ensuring the journey is a collaborative one.  Without this trust, an exciting project could get kyboshed before it even gets to the planning stage. 

When we elevate the conversation of tourism into the lens of the visitor economy, a little more science gets introduced into the discussion. Place making to create vibrant neighbourhoods with new jobs and a selection of great places to stay, eat and drink are all results of developing the visitor economy. It’s the sixth A in planning a destination. Advocacy. Without this the first five can be compromised. And nobody wants to compromise on Accommodation, Activities, Attractions, Access or improving local Amenities. 

I liked what Copenhagen did in 2018 when they declared that tourism as we knew it was over in favour of localhood. The Tourism Organisation released a strategy that talked about tourists being referred to as temporary locals. They made changes to their marketing to promote through others rather than to others which resulted in sharing that sense of localhood with both the temporary and permanent residents. A strategy that we are starting to see in Victoria.