Shire of Harvey visitor experience labelled “outdated” and “underwhelming” after external report

The Shire of Harvey visitor experience has been labelled “outdated” and “underwhelming”, with an external report calling for the area’s two main visitor centres to be decommissioned. The Harvey Region Tourism Strategic Report — developed earlier this year by tourism place-maker We Are Best — was commissioned by the shire to bring tourism in-house in order to reduce overlap and brand confusion. The report stated the Harvey region lacked a breadth and depth of food and beverage offerings and the town’s visitor centre failed to provide a “Harvey Region narrative.” “Best team’s whole-of impression of the Harvey Visitor Centre were that it was outdated, the experience was underwhelming and relied heavily on manualisation and static assets,” the report stated. The report also looked at the Australind Visitor Centre and concluded it did not represent an open, welcoming or accessible environment and was “underwhelming” in its total user experience. “Our (We Are Best) strategic recommendation is to decommission both the current Harvey and Australind visitor centres in their current model, offering and locations,” the report stated. The decision to reassess tourism in the shire comes after the creation of a new Harvey Region Tourism Advisory Group set to start in early 2022. Harvey Shire’s 2020-25 Economic Development Strategy outlined a need to strengthen local tourism, with $180,182 sought as funding for the Shire’s visitor centres in the 2020 financial year. During community consultation the WAB report found that 70 per cent of respondents thought there was inadequate information about what to do in Harvey, while 83 per cent wanted to see more tourists in the region. Shire president Paul Gillett said the community surveys revealed the Shire should focus more heavily on tourism and changes were required within the sector. “The Shire is now entering an exciting new phase in tourism with the aim to deliver a more visitor-focused, economically beneficial and sustainable industry,” he said.