Tourism road trip pulls into town

UNIFORM tourist signage and better a mobile phone service are just two of the things Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Joanna Gash identified as part of a two-week tourism fact-finding campaign.
Ms Gash, who has the job of developing federal tourism policy for the Liberal Party, stopped in Healesville last week as part of a two-week caravan trip to road test road tourism.
The current Gilmore MP and a former regional tourism officer and guest-house operator was on the final stretch of a road trip which saw her travelling roads linking towns and tourism in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
Also on her check list were road infrastructure, tourism facilities and information and the price of petrol and other costs in the 60 towns on her itinerary including Nowra, Parkes, Mildura, Hahndorf, Miningie, Casterton, Seymour, Healesville, Bairnsdale, Merimbula and Batemans Bay.
“If people are travelling whether in a caravan, car or on motorbikes, they need good communication.
“From our experience, unless you are in towns, mobile phones are pretty useless,” said Ms Gash who spoke with Yarra Valley Tourist Information Centre manager Margaret Baker in Healesville.
“There is only one truly effective way to find out what local communities that rely on the tourism industry need and that is to meet the people and speak with them one-on-one,” Ms Gash said.
In towns which promote tourism as a local industry, such as Healesville, Ms Gash said her trip so far had indicated people want clear signage to information centres and adequate caravan parking.
Ms Baker agreed consistent signage and road rules made sense.