Council’s new membership to ‘Goondiwindi Region’ website will showcase the region to prospective residents and visitors

Local residents and visitors to the Goondiwindi Region will be able to find all local visitor information, events and community groups easily in one place online thanks to Goondiwindi Regional Council’s decision to purchase a membership to the privately operated GoondiwindiRegion.com.au (GR) website.

The newly-available corporate membership subscription means the GR website will become a one-stop-shop for visitors and locals to discover events, local towns, places to stay, and things to do, eat and drink.

Council has agreed to pay $45,000 (plus GST) for the annual membership, which will also include dedicated photography at local events along with e-mail marketing, social media promotion of the region and tourism-specific data analytics from the GR website.

The membership will also provide local community groups with a free mini session to support them to create posters and/or social media posts for their own marketing.

Mayor of the Goondiwindi region the Honourable Cr Lawrence Springborg AM holds Council’s portfolio for economic development, tourism and events, and said the new membership would take advantage of an existing quality tourism offering while streamlining Council’s own website.

“The GR website showcases the region to prospective residents and visitors – it already provides a high-quality platform, and has an existing following and user base, which will allow even more people to discover our wonderful region,” the Mayor said.

“Council has identified an improved digital presence to be a priority action as part of the region’s Visitor Economy Strategy. The membership to the GR website will form part of the Goondiwindi Region’s growing reputation as a quality visitor destination.”

The existing Council website will remain live, but will be more streamlined without the large quantity of visitor content. There will also be no changes to Council’s official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/grcqld

GoondiwindiRegion.com.au is a privately owned platform run by Goondiwindi local Rebecca Cover. Mrs Cover recently won the bronze award for Outstanding Contribution by a Volunteer at the Queensland Tourism Awards in 2021 for her success with the platform and commitment to the community.

The new membership complements several significant recent investments in the Goondiwindi Region’s visitor economy by Council, including the award-winning Yelarbon silo artwork and the success of the ‘#VisitGoondiwindiRegion’ campaign.

Other recent Council investments include the creation of the new ‘Visitor Experience Coordinator’ role for the Goondiwindi Region, upgrades to local Visitor Information Centres, and a suite of professional images for local businesses to use in their marketing material.

Council has also recently published a number of new visitor brochures that include region-wide attractions, itineraries and accommodation options.

Estimates suggest more than 321,000 visitors came to the Goondiwindi Region in 2019-20, worth around $50.7 million to the local economy.