Our knitted nativity set – CWA shop Tarcutta.
Every Christmas we drive to Melbourne with the kids to visit Mum and Dad so I get to reconnect with regional Australia. This is often with somewhat mixed feelings. I have worked with regional tourism for many years now in a marketing and market research capacity so I guess I travel not only as a ‘traveller’ but also with an eye on the game.
Essentially what I notice, is there is so much opportunity for tourism businesses to shine and untapped opportunity. Here are a few of the highs and lows of my family road trip.
- Regional produce and an excuse to stop. The Hume Highway is a boring road, with boring stops and not much going for it along the way. It bypasses most of the lovely regional towns. We usually stop at a small town called Jugiong, North of Gundagai. Why do we stop there? For the sole purpose of visiting the Long Pantry Cafe. And so do scores of others it seems. The Long Pantry Cafe is not just a cafe, but I would term it these days as its own little destination along the way, created by enterprising owners obviously looking to tap into the thousands of travellers forced to travel boring Hume. It provides a great excuse to stop and get off the road.
The place is usually packed during the holiday season. And even in low season, there are always people in there. A gorgeous cafe, regional produce, green space for the kids outside to run around, and a fruit and vege shop alongside a furniture and wares store. And GOOD COFFEE. Why are there not more places doing this with the volume of traffic along the Hume?
2. The Hume bypass is killing regional towns along the way. OK, it is progress, and with 3 kids in the back seat, every minute we can save the better. Last year we were disappointed that Tarcutta was officially ‘bypassed’. We usually stop there instead of Holbrook. They have a nice shaded park for the kids and it is next to a CWA shop.
Opportunity….if there was a big sign on the way saying “CWA shop open now” – get your pickles, jams, and preserves” it would provide a great excuse to get off that highway. Last year we bought our relishes and picked up a knitted nativity set. They type of thing you would only ever come across in a CWA shop.
In all our research, we see that travellers are looking for authentic country experiences and an opportunity to mingle with the locals. Tarcutta was always a great place for us to do that. The infamous submarine town of Holbrook will be ‘bypassed’ next and this will slowly kill the town. Unfortunately in talking to people along the way, it seems councils are not proactive in trying to reinvent the towns to provide opportunity. They are still talking about the possibility of the Truckie Museum Hall of Fame in Tarcutta, but guess what, it will be far too late. It is a shame I think.
3. Toilets. Yes, here I go again. The toilets are so disgusting on the highway, that I am not sure who is responsible for cleaning the toilets and the surrounding areas. This time I had to introduce my young girls to the joys of squatting behind a tree. Unfortunately noticing the rubbish and a needle obviously at some point containing a product assisting a truckie in making his Melbourne to Brisbane trip in one hit…literally speaking.
If your regional town can put a sign on the highway – “Cleanest Toilets On The Hume”, the cafe next door and the town will boom. I guarantee. Toilets alone are consistently a concern of road trip travellers in just about every research study we undertake, one of the number one reason people will stop in a town. Yes, people will leave the highway, and go out of their way for a clean look.
4. Terrible coffee (except Long Pantry Cafe). The first cafe or truck stop to sell decent coffee will make a motza. We want your pimply-faced barista to do his course to learn how to make decent coffee. And listen to him when after his one-day course in Melbourne he wants to source his beans from the fair trade coffee plantation in Sumatra. He will make you lots of money.
5. It costs the same to stay in a dodgy regional hotel room as it did in the 5-star Stamford Plaza in Melbourne. OK, the Stamford Plaza didn’t throw in the free random (not ours) pubic hair in the bathroom, but it gave us free breakfast and valet parking. I will leave it at that…
Regional travel is filled with highs and lows, that is big highs, big lows, and a bit of mediocrity in between. What I see is opportunity and lots of it. Opportunity to tap into the traffic of travellers along the way.
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Hi Bron,
The interesting thing about the Long Pantry Cafe, is as you say, it has become a destination in its own right. That has happened since the highway was built to by pass Jugiong. I first heard about the Long Pantry Cafe from a friend and I now plan my Hume Highway trips with a stop at Jugiong. So many of my friends now stop there and even work trips are planned to include a visit. This demonstrates the power of word of mouth, and can only come from delivering an authentic experience that creates a sense of place that fits its surroundings. It is more than just a great cup of coffee, it gives you the ability to emotionally connect to the experience and as I did purchase some of the merchandise. Now that, is where a brand is created in the delivery of the right experience that connect with the customer not a graphic design studio.
Charlotte
Thanks Charlotte, you are spot on there, great to have your pearls of brand wisdom. Glad to see you are still planning your trips around food! Reminded me of the one we took when we had to create the food and wine trail that time. Gee that was a tough job, eating and drinking our way through regional NSW in the name of product development…
Hi Bron, great article and interesting comments from others. There seems to be several issues that arise: 1. small businesses can provided really excellent product/experience/service but are often too cash strapped to invest in their promotion 2. the travelers are usually ignorant of what is available, 3. There is a real lack of appropriate information to access.
The first issue is a chicken and egg one and needs more thought, maybe tiered participation. The second can be fixed and the third could also be fixed. Several years ago I worked on a project that I personally thought should be taken up by the state and fed tourism bodies. The concept was for a tiered information directory that allowed local communities to have their own information kiosks which fed into state databases then into international information banks. Of course this was before the ubiquitous use of internet sources for information. However, the tourism groups were only interested in major players and not remotely concerned with the small players that can offer such memorable experiences. The idea is still relevant and I think a phone app would be the ideal delivery mechanism. The project i worked on went on to have GPS links to its maps and was eventually sold to an app developer, but not for tourism. I think it is still a very viable idea for travellers, domestic and international visitors and if Facebook and Google can offer pay per click options, why couldn’t this and therefor be available to all small tourism operators? just some (regional) food for thought.
Thanks Carole, some great points there. Interesting story. In so much of the research we do, it is the small, authentic experiences that create memorable times so you are spot on there. Bron
Hi Carole
This sounds like an interesting concept, as you stated the tourism groups are only interested in the major players. Any avenue that allows feedback and therefore creates possible solutions is a win win for the rural and regional centres.
Every business strives to be the very best and in some cases it is being acheived with little to no resources. Applications, web design and social media are bridging the gap but where do you find the time to utilise these resources.
Rural and regional councils should be allocating as much time and effort into these technological aspects as the potential benefit out ways the cost. Creating a space that all businesses can utilise and feed from and work in a coordinated effort. Problem and information sharing, training all online.
Essentially a hub.
The issue is that it needs to be coordinated, everyone needs to be involved and people and business owners need to take ownership. I can share numerous stories of programs to entice tourism (which had no outlay) that were snubbed by 80% businesses.
A business leader in another area spoke to me about a business chamber that was putting on free mentoring programs; it died a quick death. There are plenty of solutions but if the majority aren’t interested the project can quickly fail.
Hi Browyn,
I really did enjoy reading your article, we travel the highways and have come across similar issues (including the coffee related one).
On the flip side we have operated a hotel for four years in a village that has been termed “Primitive” along a major highway. We have tried numerous things to promote our business as a stop off point but its been for nought.
We have a free camping facility with clean toilets, a free shower, BBQ and if the need arises power for $10. We advertise on the HWY in the Camper’s major publications, website’s and social media.
We are forever receiving comments about the hospitality shown, our food, coffee, beer and camping site but it really is a difficult time.
There is a lack of confidence in rural areas (from my point of view), in its leaders, facilities and future. Tourism is a wonderful thing if there is an industrial, commercial and educational foundation however if there isn’t the basic amenities and provisions for the local populace why would the travelling public expect anything more than the average?
I am aware that 90% of the issues are related to the way I operate and the industry I’m in. We operate as a two person partnership up until a couple of months ago, 7 days a week, lunches, dinner etc. We are time and cash poor and just don’t have the time to work on our business rather than in it.
I personally have found that small businesses do not have any avenues from a financial perspective to grow even if they wanted to.
There are no easy answers. I fear that it’s just a natural progression and more and more people will gravitate toward the cities. I wish we were able to hand our business on and watch it grow for the next 100 years but I do fear the worst. Families on the land are selling to large corporations (which I don’t blame them for) communities are dying. Confidence is dead.
Hi Ben, thanks for taking the time to read our article and the effort to comment. You have raised some really interesting and most relevant issues here to enlighten the discussion.
Bron, I loved your article on your road trip to Melbourne. I feel exactly the same way. I get just as frustrated and disappointed. Why can’t they see the opportunity ? Why can’t they emulate successful businesses that do it properly ? I reckon one of the main reasons is that they don’t care ! It’s that very colloquial, country attitude of “fit in of fuck off”….”it’s my way of the highway.”
The flip side of this ofcourse is the genuine Aussie character – the side of us that international travellers pay good money to see.
I took a ( Macca’s free ) trip to Junee over the chrissie break.( Sometime’s you just have to stop at Macca’s to get a half way decent cup of coffee ) First stop Mittagong at the original Greek fish and chip shop. Met the lovliest owners, reconnected with the Chicko Roll ( did you know it was invented in Wagga ? ), they served excellent hand cut chips and…we got a decent cup of coffee! Nice !
Junee is a gem of a town. I was keen to take my wife to the Liqorice and Chocolate Factory. It was my second visit and I’d been telling her about it for years. She wasn’t dissappointed. They offer a great experience and the best original organic chocolate products I’ve ever tasted ! Yum – we should have bought more. They have excellent staff as well which just tops the visit off. We also went to Monte Cristo – Australia’s Most Haunted House. We spent about an hour just chatting to the owner. Such a nice old bloke who’s owned the place for fifty years and who is full of stories about the place.
But – do you think we could get a decent feed in Junee ? There was three choices – the pub, the fish shop or the chinese at the club ( which was just about to close so we had to think fast ).
Overall we had a great time. It was good to head inland away from the traffic and the cops. Our toilet stops didn’t horrify us and….to date, we still haven’t received a speed camera fine in the mail.
( so happy to have dodged those double demerits) I guess my point is that there are some great regional tourism adventures to be had – but they are few and fare between. I think you have to accept the lack of finesse and relish the quality of the people you meet.
Happy New Year – I hope it is a beauty !
Hey Michael
Lovely to hear from you. I glad you liked the piece, I ‘umed and ahhed’ about writing it. Your passion for change in the industry is obvious. Bron
Also Michael, I do need to mention we ate at the Chinese of our regional town – the kids had fish and chips with sweet and sour sauce. There was also satay spaghetti on the menu! You can pretty much guarantee a Chinese in each town. Some good, some really bad. Most adapting to local tastes in the most enterprising way hence, satay spaghetti and sweet n sour fish and chips. Love it.