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This episode comes to you live from Australian Regional Tourism Network Convention 2015. This event was held in Victor Harbor in the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia. Although not every issues raised at the convention is covered off in this podcast episode it does gives some taste of the key themes and topics to come out of this regional tourism event. Mark Olsen was the master facilitator of this event. See more about him and Earth Check here http://earthcheck.org/about/our-people/ and Mark kicks of this podcast sharing the difference between a conference and convention and that a manifesto and direction for ARTN is to be developed out of this convention in which they will bring regional issues to national platforms such as Federal Ministers, State Tourism Organisations CEO's, Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) and Australian Local Government Association amongst others. "The timing is critical...for the first time in a long time we have actually seen regional tourism organisations fold altogether in 2015. We see three states undertaking reviews of their regional funding and their regional governance models...." Mark Olsen. "With more Australians travelling overseas than any other time in our history, that domestically RTO's are saying how do we maximise our share, how to we hold Australians here, how do we gain share of voice in this cluttered market place.." Mark Olsen. "The Bunsen burner is really on for regions, and their ability to demonstrate their influence." Mark Olsen. At the 4.50 minute mark we then spoke to Mark Dowd CEO of the City of Onkaparinga about their relationship with a sister city in China, learnings from that relationship and the key role WeChat plays in that ongoing relationship. Very Interesting! From the 9.00 minute mark we chat to Liz Ward from Tourism Tribe and Lynne Hocking from Webnoise about their key take aways from the convention. Liz discusses that there seems to be an appetite for change which is refreshing and the discussion around the clarity of brand in regional areas. Lynne comments about the need for industry development especially in regional areas as well as the growth in importance on caravan and camping (I agree). People who work in regional tourism need to have that realisation that they are working in these tiny little micro moment opportunities to connect with people - that they have to be connected all the time like the consumer is connected says Liz Ward. (I agree there is still a massive resistance to social media and digital across the tourism industry). From the 13 minute mark we chat to Miranda Lang Executive Officer Fleurieu Peninsula Tourism. We talk about collaboration (which I personally think is a key theme from the event). Miranda mentions the KISS rule and sometimes we need a reminder to keep things simple. From the 16 minute mark we talk to Graham Perry from Inland Tourism NSW. Graham mentioned collaboration and that we can't ignore the digital economy. See the Inland NSW new consumer tourism website https://www.travelin.com.au and for more on this see this article. From the 18 minute mark Mark Olsen facilitator of the event wraps up some of the key outcomes and direction for ARTN going forward. From more please check out an article I wrote for KarryOn Travel on the ARTN Convention. Several links mentioned in this podcast episode: The organisation ARTN Central NSW - UnEarth Campaign website http://visitcentralnsw.com.au Inland NSW new tourism website https://www.travelin.com.au and for more on this see this article. The Future of Visitor Centres - Western Australia Report NSW Business Chamber (although can't seem to see any information on the new white paper re the shared economy) MyTravelresearch.com. The post Regional tou...