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Recent events have driven home several facts. It would be fatal to ignore them.
During the weekend before Easter the town experienced the largest single event ever held here, with almost 600 visitors spending between three to five days at Lightning Ridge.
This extremely successful Rotary District Conference must serve as a wake-up call. It proved:
*Special events will fill the town with tourists, but we do not have enough accommodation available for them;
*We have bigger, better and more efficient Conference facilities than many large towns;
*We are a popular conference destination, as the 580 visiting Rotarians proved, even though many had to stay in tents, homestays, caravans/ cabins, and the motels in Walgett;
*We do not have enough motel accommodation to facilitate larger Conferences. We require another motel, with up to 100 beds, and more budget priced beds as well. Coober Pedy has about 140,000 tourists each year. That number is greatly enhanced, when you consider that many of them stay two nights or more, filling almost 250,000 beds;
*We do NOT have anybody working on attracting groups, conferences, special events etc. to fill the existing, or new motels on a year-round basis. Motels are overbooked at times and underbooked most other times. Bus Companies have been targeted in the past, but now all Service Clubs in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, all sporting groups, larger companies and government departments, as well as special interest groups, need to be invited to hold their conferences here. For example, we have the opportunity to bring about 1000 indoor specific sports people here next year for the weekend before Easter. This past weekend we had a group of Classic and Antique Vehicles enthusiasts in town etc.
*We do not give visitors enough to do once they are here, to keep them occupied for several days. Lightning Ridge needs to actively co-operate with the Shire, and the other areas within the Shire, to develop more places of interest for the tourists to visit.
Also, to clearly mark out a tourist route to the Grawin/Glengarry mining fields, especially to places such as the “dump’ for genuine fossicking, and the various “classy pubs” for their atmosphere. The tourists will then return to Lightning Ridge at the end of the day for a comfortable bed and good meal.
*Help find ways to make the proposed Fossil Centre self-funding. Help find ways to make the new Tourist Information Centre self-funding.
This past Rotary Conference, and the equally successful, Easter Festivities, also provided that it is possible for a very small number of dedicated people to successfully stage big events.
The future survival of Lightning Ridge would seem to depend more and more on tourism. The Lightning Ridge Rotary Club is therefore inviting all the residents of Lightning Ridge and the surrounding towns to attend an informal evening, with barbecue and liquid refreshments available, to further explore the above points and urgently find ways to build a secure future for all.
Saturday, May 4, 7pm: Proposed venue is the Golf Club. The barbecue will be about $8 including dessert. RSVP: phone the call centre, 6829 0333 with numbers. Please come with your thoughts and ideas, as the livelihood of most locals is affected.
H. Kreller
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