BENDIGO’S motels are fully booked this weekend, and they are not all happy about it. An influx of at least 7000 people is expected in the city this weekend to attend at least three major events. More than 4500 young athletes will take part in the Victorian Little Athletics championships at the La Trobe University Bendigo Athletics Centre on Saturday and Sunday. On top of that, about 2000 are expected for the Bendigo Flying Club’s aviation swap meet on the same two days. More than 500 young tennis players will compete at the Victorian Primary Schools Tennis Championships at the Nolan Street complex on Sunday and Monday. This has resulted in a bed shortfall in the city, with motels turning away up to 15 would-be customers every day. One motelier, who asked not to be named, labelled the situation as a “disaster”. “There are too many events on. People will complain and won’t come back,” he said. A number of motel owners have laid the blame for the squeeze firmly at the feet of Bendigo Tourism and the City of Greater Bendigo council for not being aware of the athletics tournament. Council City Futures director Stan Liacos admitted he was unaware of the little aths event until recently. “It is unfortunate and it is a lost opportunity,” he said. “We at the City of Greater Bendigo do the best we possibly can to avoid clashes, but that is sometimes not possible. “The selection of dates is determined by the organisers, not by us.” The council is a major sponsor of the aviation swap meet. Mr Liacos said he advised the flying club not to hold the event last weekend or during the Easter activities. “We encouraged the swap meet not to go on the traditionally popular long weekend or Easter weekend,” he said. “I didn’t encourage them to go on any particular day. “It is unfortunate because we will have to let people down, however we don’t control the world.” Bendigo Motels Association president Kevin Prime acknowledged work needed to be done to better plan the city’s events calendar. “The idea is to spread these events out over 12 months,” he said. “It is incumbent on all sectors in the industry to look at all the events and prevent these clashes from happening.” Mr Liacos said the room squeeze was, on one level, positive. “It is important to show the events are working and they are dragging in a lot of visitors,” he said. “It is a good outcome to be busy, but it is unfortunate there are clashes. “I have asked our marketing, events and tourism teams to review the entire calender and try to better forecast any potential future clashes.” The squeeze came in the shadow of two poor weekend results for local moteliers. One owner described last weekend as the quietest Labour Day weekend in 13 years. Mr Prime also said the Easter weekend was again looking quiet. “Things have been quiet on Easter in the past few years,” he said. “It is quieter this year than in others, for sure.” However, two junior basketball tournaments in the two weekends after Easter are expected to be a boon for local moteliers.
This instance once again brings to public attention the operation of Bendigo Tourism, or the new layer of bureacracy now in vogue "City Futures or whatever that's replaced it with further contrived titles that have been developed to maintain high levels of unnecessary employment with equally unnecessary high wages attached. The days of local government pretending they play a constructive role in economic development when in fact their existence is demonstrably counter productive, need to be ended. The Auditor General's report into the "Tram /Lake Weeroona fiasco amplifies this point loud and clear. The Tourism and Events calender needs to be wrested from bureacrat pretenders and given to people who get things done in the private sector who have the necessary motivation to succeed.
The role of Mr Liacos and others in the department should be confined to doing as directed by a free enterprise Tourism Board of Management.
