50 years ago

MUNICIPAL and tourist industry representatives meeting in Hamilton yesterday agreed in principle to form a South-West Regional Tourist Authority which will include the city of Mt Gambier. Delegates at the meeting also elected a steering committee to bring the authority into operation. They were told tourist promotion in the region would cost at least $30,000 a year on present estimates. Tourism consultant to the Minister for Tourism, Mr. Dick Brown, said effective promotion was going to cost money. “That’s the crux of it,” he said. “Tourist promotion cannot be done on the cheap. Money has been wasted by groups throughout Australia who have tried to do it on the cheap. They tried to do too much with too little. A contribution of something like $50 a council is useless.”