6.2.22 MRTI Quarterly Report March 20142014/05/21 · ORDINARY MEETING - 21 MAY 2014 6.2.22 MRTI Quarterly Report March 2014 REPORT BY THE GENERAL MANAGER TO 21 MAY 2014 COUNCIL MEETING

256 Mid-Western Regional Council

ORDINARY MEETING - 21 MAY 2014

6.2.22 MRTI Quarterly Report March 2014

REPORT BY THE GENERAL MANAGER TO 21 MAY 2014 COUNCIL MEETING MRTI Quarterly Report March 2014 GOV400038, F0770077

RECOMMENDATION That: 1. the report by the General Manager on the MRTI Quarterly Report March 2014 be

received; 2. Council renegotiate with Mudgee Regional Tourism Inc the Key Performance

Indicators for the 2014/15 financial year.

Detailed report

As per the funding and performance agreement entered into in March 2014 between Mudgee Regional Tourism Inc (MRTI) and Council, MRTI is required to report quarterly to Council on their performance. The March 2014 quarterly report has been delivered to Council in accordance with this requirement and is attached for Council’s consideration. It is important to note that this is the third quarterly report received for the first year of the new MRTI contract, and again a number of KPIs are not adequately addressed or fully satisfied in the report to Council. For example: One of the KPIs is to ensure that at least 15% of MRTI produced press releases cover

attractions in Kandos, Rylstone and Gulgong so as to attract tourists to all of the towns in the Region. No press releases were issued during this quarter.

Another KPI is to distribute a monthly newsletter to the subscriber database (approximately 7,200 people have subscribed to this newsletter). Based on the information received, it appears that this activity has not been occurring regularly on a monthly basis in the last 6 months.

It is acknowledged that the absence of a Tourism Manager for 4 months has contributed to this situation however it would be considered inappropriate to ignore this fact on an ongoing basis in terms of MRTI’s overall contract obligations. It would also be appropriate at this time to enter into discussions with MRTI to determine whether or not the key performance indicators are still relevant and at a relevant strategic level that will ensure the Council is getting value for money from the funds that are allocated. It is certainly management’s opinion that the delivery of the KPI’s have not been adequate for this current year and would not have been acceptable if this was another contract that Council entered into such as a roads construction for example. Now that an Interim Tourism Manager has been appointed, the fourth quarter report should demonstrate that all of the KPIs have been adequately addressed and fully satisfied by MRTI both for the quarter and for the entire first year of the contract. If this cannot be demonstrated, then MRTI should clearly identify how it will establish a procedure to ensure that these KPIs will be satisfied in the future in order to meet its contractual obligations.

Mid-Western Regional Council ORDINARY MEETING - 21 MAY 2014 257

Management also notes with interest that the visitors to Mudgee are asked how they heard about the Region (page 4 of the report). Only 5% of the respondents have heard about Mudgee from the MRTI website and only 1% from media coverage. Does this indicate that a review of the Region’s marketing strategy needs to be considered? We also note a significant decrease in the number of visitors to the Gulgong Visitor information Centre. MRTI are investigating these figures, but we again raise the concern that the current provider may not be appropriate for the supply of visitor information centre.

Financial and Operational Plan implications

Not applicable.

Community Plan implications

Not applicable. WARWICK L BENNETT GENERAL MANAGER 30 April 2014 Attachments: 1. MRTI Quarterly Report – March 2014



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Documents

6.2.22 MRTI Quarterly Report March 20142014/05/21 · ORDINARY MEETING - 21 MAY 2014 6.2.22 MRTI Quarterly Report March 2014 REPORT BY THE GENERAL MANAGER TO 21 MAY 2014 COUNCIL MEETING