Destination: Queensland

INTRODUCTION

The Redland Shire Council hasdetermined the need to establish a 5-year strategic
framework for tourism development in the Shire. The Council, supported by a financial
contribution from the Queensland Department of State Development, appointed ATS Group to
undertake the development of this Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy.

A number of processes have been utilised to prepare this Strategy. Firstly, the Shire already
has had the benefit of a number of previous planning studies that either directly or indirectly
impact on the tourism sector. It is important that the Shire makes use of relevant proposals
set out in previous plans. Secondly, a comprehensive field review was undertaken in late
2002 that allowed the Consultants to form their own views of the current and potential tourism
resources of the Shire. Thirdly, and most importantly, consultation has been undertaken with
a number of stakeholders including government, tourism bodies, operators and members of
the community to identify relevant issues and examine potential opportunities. Consultation
has taken a number of forms including stakeholder workshops, meetings and interviews,
questionnaires, public forums and feedback from a Discussion Paper released in March 2003.

The result of these processes is this document titled the Redland Shire Sustainable Tourism
Strategy, and a supporting Background Paper which provides a situation analysis, a
description of the tourism industry in the Shire, a comprehensive review of past planning
studies and a SWOT analysis.

The Consultants have endeavoured to produce a practical Strategy that provides a clear way
forward for tourism not only within the Shire, but also within the broader regional context. In
addition, the Strategy recognises that the tourism industry does not operate in isolation and is
part of the Shire’s wider commercial framework. The impacts and benefits of tourism are
widespread and occur across a broad range of markets, industry sectors and tenures.
Accordingly, tourism planning needs to include a variety of industry sectors and stakeholder
groups. Strong economic benefits can be delivered by integrating tourism opportunities
across industry sectors by value-adding. Aside from industry, other stakeholders such as local
residents, community groups, indigenous organisations and government bodies must be
included in tourism planning so that environmental and social impacts can be addressed in
addition to the economic impacts.