THE outgoing general manager of the Riverland’s peak tourism body has said she is “very excited” to see the future growth of Riverland tourism after nearly five years in the role.
Caroline Phillips, who been the general manager at Destination Riverland (DR) since October 2015, had her last day with the organisation last Wednesday after deciding to step away earlier this year to focus on her duties as mayor of the District Council of Karoonda East Murray and spend more time with her family.
Ms Phillips said the growth of tourism over her five years at DR, which included a 39 per cent growth in visitor numbers and a 21 per cent growth in expenditure, had been “pretty satisfying”.
“It’s been a huge part of my life for the past five years… my kids were three and five years old when I started, and now they are eight and 10,” she said.
“I’ve spent time reflecting back on some of the things we’ve achieved in my time here, and certainly looking at where tourism is headed now is sort of uncharted waters but really exciting.
“I feel like it’s the right time for me to be stepping back and having someone new come and take over.”
Ms Phillips said there had been plenty of highlights during her tenure.
“One of the main highlights was winning the South Australian Tourism Award for destination marketing in 2017,” she said.
“We were competing against organisations all across the state, so to be recognised at a state level when we work on very small budgets was definitely a highlight for me.
“Another highlight was our ‘winter film’, which was one of the first big projects that I worked on.
“We produced a short film which spoke about why locals love the region so much, and that footage has been shared through social media, it’s been run in cinemas, and we’re actually still using it now.”
During her time with DR, Ms Phillips said there had been a few challenging periods as well, including the high river in 2016 and the onset of COVID-19 travel restrictions earlier this year.
“That was a really challenging time with regard to what was happening with the Murray, and the perception that the media was spreading and the impact it was having on tourism,” she said.
“There was a really significant effort that was undertaken by a range of organisations to make sure we got the right information out to tourists.
“It’s been similar with COVID, which has obviously been one of the most challenging times in my career.
“It was gutting for those first few weeks talking to businesses about what they were doing and how they were going, with a lot of them not really knowing if they were going to make it.”
Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, Ms Phillips said it had presented a “great opportunity” for tourism in the Riverland.
“There’s never been an opportunity like this before,” she said.
“I really hope going forward that all of the stakeholders will band together with Destination Riverland in the implementation of this new plan.
“We have such potential with the stakeholders that are here that if we can all collaborate and really focus the vision, we can achieve some amazing things.”
Ms Phillips thanked the DR board and local tourism operators for their support over the years.
“With Tony Sharley’s work as the first general manager and me taking over from him, we’ve definitely laid some really strong foundations there and kicked some big goals,” she said.
“Ben Patten’s an excellent replacement who is coming in – his skillset offers a different dimension to the operation and I think that’s exactly what we need to move forward and really maximise the opportunities before us.
“Ben’s really hit the ground running and, with the support of Kate who has been here for some time now, DR has a really good team and a supportive board going forward.”