DESTINATION Riverina Murray needs input from community members and tourism and agricultural industry stakeholders for a first of its kind regionwide “agritourism” strategy.
It has visited over 20 council areas in Victoria and NSW to formulate a plan to bring more visitors to the region with the consultation finding the agriculture sector harboured underutilised tourism potential.
DRM general manager Yvette Myhill said they hoped to better understand the region’s agricultural strengths and where the intersections for visitors might be.
“The main definition of agritourism is an experience on farm, so within our region we have real strengths in terms of wine, citrus, grain and rice growing so there is a lot of opportunity to educate visitors,” she said.
“I think the main thing we are trying to achieve is a really strong understanding of what the opportunities and the challenges are. We already know there are some concerns from the agricultural industry about biosecurity and having visitors coming on to farm and how they impacts day-to-day operations,” she said.
“We want to look at the challenges and find ways we can address those whether it is off-farm activity or monitored activity.”
Ms Myhill said the plan could be a significant boost to the region’s economy.
“Our region is so unique in terms of agriculture I think historically agritourism has been focused on small farmgate activities and small cellar doors but the offering we have on the Murray and Riverina region are different,” she said.
“The development of this plan is a first for Australia, potentially the world there is not a lot out there that look at the large scale and how we bring the picture together.”
Ms Myhill said DRM hoped to have the plan finalised within the next three months.
“We will gather all the information right across the region, we are doing site visits while we are on location meeting with agricultural and tourism operators who are either in the space or have potential to be in the space,” she said.
“We will then develop a draft plan, which we will bring for back for comment and feedback and around late June with the intention for a final plan to be out by August.”
