Convention Bureau appointment raises questions

By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
A reader who asked not to be named wanted us to investigate whether the Department of Tourism and Culture had just appointed a new director of the NT Convention Bureau who will live in Victoria.
 
“I am bewildered at this decision,” said the reader.
 
“How do you ‘Turbocharge Tourism’ from Victoria? What are the additional transport, accommodation and wage on costs of this decision? What presence will be in the NT at this high level? How does this decision create local jobs?
 
“This is a further example of the contempt shown to the industry by a group of so called experts who are very much out of step with the industry they represent.”
 
The department confirmed that the person appointed will be living interstate but provided comprehensive reasons for the decision.
 
A spokesperson says the appointment followed a “full merit based selection process”.
 
• The successful applicant has previously spent time working in Tourism NT head office, having lived in Darwin for four years and then [worked] in the Tourism NT Sydney office for almost two years.  The successful applicant has previously acted in the role and has produced outstanding results for industry.
 
• The team is geographically dispersed with staff located in Darwin, Alice Springs, Sydney and Melbourne.
 
• One of the key responsibilities of the role is to market the NT as an attractive, viable and competitive destination to the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions marketplace – with key decision makers and influencers based across Australia and wider Asia Pacific.
 
• There is also a key responsibility to build and maintain effective working relationships across the specialised business events distribution network and national industry partners such as Business Events Australia (Sydney based).  National advocacy for the industry is conducted primarily through the Canberra based Australian Association of Convention Bureaux.
 
• A key element of the early decision to base the director role within the NT was to maximise visibility and development of the industry.  A newly appointed general manager of Industry Development will support the NTCB in its development activities.  Further, the role of advocacy of Business Events is now integrated across the agency and is further being addressed through the co-developed whole of industry development plan (Tourism 2030) and ten year Business Events strategy.