Re elected unopposed were Cheryl Raper as President, and Tracey Lamont as Vice President, Margie Wallace was elected as Secretary and Judit Kovacs as Treasurer. The new committee elected were Matthew Hulse, Bronwyn Richards, Robert Aernout, Cheryl Hannah, and Jan Esman. In welcoming the new committee Cheryl thanked the outgoing Secretary Andrew Gow for his excellent work over the past three years.
In summarising the past years activities, Cheryl highlighted Braidwood & Villages Tourism's (B.A.V.T) success in gaining the Australian Tourism Development Grant to market the King's Highway through a very pro-active Web site, she went on to explain how this would "build a broader market for our tourism operators to draw on and a broader format 'The King's Highway To Discovery' Web Site, for them to use, to get your product & services out there to a wider market."
The 'Kings Highway to Discovery' will be launched in Jan '09 with the grant finishing in Sept '09.
Again BAVT has had representation on the Capital Country Tourism Board, with Tracey Lamont recently elected as our new representative.
BAVT has provided advocacy to Palerang Council, on behalf of our members, regarding the increase in water and sewerage charges for businesses in Braidwood.
A snapshot of website visits was provided for the interest of members: the continued trend of increasing visits to website since May saw 1768 unique visitors in September, with a forecast for over 1800 for October. In September: Monday was the busiest day, with 2-3pm being the busiest hour, 47% of visitors type the address directly (or use a bookmark), 40% use search engines and the most popular search term was simply 'braidwood' (39%), with the next being 'braidwood accommodation' at 2.9%
BAVT is in for a busy year starting with their screening of the 20th Anniversary of the AIS Award Winning film "The Year My Voice Broke". This will be screened in Wallace St, in an open air theatre, on December 6th, starting at 8:00 pm, a gold coin donation and all are welcome. Watch the Visitor Information Centre window for details.
Tracey Lamont also reported on the BAVT's 'Lighting Up History" project which will be complete by Christmas, funded by Country Energy, Palerang Council and the NSW Heritage Office, the Council Chambers, the Court House and the Rotunda in Ryrie Park all to be lit.
Cheryl also informed members that the very popular Braidwood Visitor Guide would need to be reprinted as 30,000 had been distributed over the last 18 months.
The meeting closed with a presentation by Gary Watkins-Sully from the newly operating Reidsdale Cheese Factory at Reidsdale.
Braidwood & Villages Tourism is a 'not for profit' Incorporation, and operates the Braidwood Information Centre 7days a week 360 days a year, to promote business in the region. The Centre is manned by 26 volunteers and the new office manager is Judi Robison. If you would like to volunteer at the VIC, call in and leave your details. Cheryl paid tribute to the wonderful work the volunteers do in promoting Braidwood, as they are often the visitors first port of call to the town.
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