Tourist Information Centres
Submitted: Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 10:27
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Member - Jo Q (NSW)
This may have come up before, but it has been playing on my mind ever since I got back from a 27 days on the road from
Sydney to the
Daintree and back. As a standard practice before any trip I look through websites, gather all my
camping and travel books and have a look at the various things to see and do and
places to stay in various areas along the way. What I usually do is also call into a lot of
Tourist Information Centres, especially in the bigger towns and cities as they usually offer great friendly service, additional maps and other highlights that the particular area has to offer that I may not have known about. What I find extremely frustrating is the lack of
parking associated with these facilities.
I have a Nissan X-trail and tow a camper trailer - not the biggest or longest set up, especially all you lucky people out there that have great sized vans or motor homes! Why on this earth is the
parking available to these centres most commonly angle
parking? Don't get me wrong here, some of these centres have fantastic facilities, turn around bays and ample
parking - but many of them do not. Traditionally I would assume that
Tourist Information centres and just that - centres for tourists seeking information about their region and the bulk of travellers are commonly towing. I think a little bit of for thought wouldn't go astray when planning the locations for these centres? Port Macquarie is a classic example!
There were a few
places where I tried to
park - couldn't and just drove onto the next place - very disappointing.
Reply By: Sir Kev & Darkie - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 10:40
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 10:40
Jo,
The one here in
Chinchilla is a good one, there is long
parking bays either side of the road as
well as an off road grassed
parking area available. The VIC also has a large fenced playground for the kids to blow some steam off.
So
places probably did have ample
parking facilities at one stage but urban expansion has caught up to them and now the reduction in adequate
parking for all travellers.
Cheers Kev
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AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Motherhen - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 21:32
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 21:32
Hi Kev
They also direct you to
free camping (some sites with power) on the
Chinchilla Weir. No wonder people stay a while at patronise the town's businesses.
Some towns want our trade, others don't. Stay and spend your money where tourists are welcomed.
As already said, many info centres are staffed by friendly volunteers. Even those without
parking are usually in the main street of town where
parking can be found even if i takes a little walk to get back to the centre.
What does annoy me is following that "I"
sign into town for the info centre, then not being able to find it. In these cases some small business has the job of dispensing tourism info and brochures - but no
sign to indicate which business. These towns also miss out on tourism dollars.
Motherhen
FollowupID:
660596
Follow Up By: Member - Norm C (QLD) - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 21:41
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 21:41
Mother hen posted 'What does annoy me is following that "I"
sign into town for the info centre, then not being able to find it.'
Yes MH, that can be frustrating.
i 1km. i 500 m. Drive down the road searching both sides and after 1km or more, no further signs and no info centre in site. Do we turn around and have another look or keep driving? Often it is keep driving.
Norm C
FollowupID:
660598
Reply By: Peter_n_Margaret - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:25
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:25
Just be a little careful with Information Centres.
Some (mostly Council / Shire ones) are totally un-biased and independent and provide a spectacularly good service.
Others (including the main one in
Darwin, for instance) are purely commercial establishments and ONLY promote those businesses etc who PAY them a fee and/or commission to do so.
"Oils aint oils"
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome
AnswerID:
392549
Follow Up By: Top End Explorer - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 13:49
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 13:49
I hope you are not talking about Tourism Top End, this establishment is run by the
Darwin Regional Tourism Association, this association is funded by it's members and possibly some grants, that being the case of course it will promote it's members and yes we do pay commission as
well.
Their commission is one of the lowest in the industry up here, all their members are Accredited Tourism Operators, a guarantee you get professional service, their web site also has comprehensive info on the Top End as
well.
The Harvey Bay tourism centre told me 2 years ago that the Manta ray barge had gone out of business, the year before they told me there was only one operator, this was in order for me to go on the other barge and they would collect their commission, that would be a better comparison to what you say.
Cheers Steve.
FollowupID:
660510
Reply By: morrys - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 16:47
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 16:47
I am also a traveler that cannot believe the way the cities and towns really do not cater for travellers bringing and spending over $300 in most towns on Fuel and grocery shopping.
If they do not cater for us then we completely ignore those towns as we always make sure we have enough to leave and go straight to another more accomadating town that does supply these benefits.
We went to one town that where the car
park was empty. Yet on the entry it said no
parking caravans.
I walked into the
shop and told the manager that as we could not
park our caravan I would not be spending my fornights shopping of $300 in their
shop. That opened his eyes.
I also admit they did have an area to
park caravans further down the street, as we wanted to do a large
shop and the car
park was empty I didnt want to carry the shopping 500 meters or so down the road.
Some
places go out of their way to help the tourists.
AnswerID:
392593
Reply By: morrys - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 16:55
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 16:55
On touring through
Darwin I was disappointed at the Tourist Bureau there. It took us about 20 minutes to drive around and find a
parking spot. Luckily we had already booked into a c.
park and unhitched the caravan.
On entering the center I looked around for information brochures then stood in the queue.
I got right up to the counter and stood still waiting. After 5 more minutes I walked up to the desk and said excuse me.
The guy promptly replied stand in the queue and wait.
Not impressed I waited. Eventually I asked the attendant if we could drive with our van attached through one of the back roads. He said no.
So I said we took our van up the oodnoodatta road and over to the opal fields without problems.
The girl next counter, butted in and said excuse me, "If you have done that ok then you would not have any problems" she smiled.
And I thanked her very much.
Why do people have to treat us like imbosiles. A little curtousy is all I ask for not outright rudeness.
I suppose its because he wanted to book tours, and I didnt want one. Although he did not know that at the time.
Darwin was the only rude place I wentto The caravan
park at Tumbling
water I would recomend to anyone, they go out of their way to make people happy and treat people like human beings.
AnswerID:
392594
Reply By: paulnsw - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 18:29
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 18:29
Most tourist info
places are great. Many only interested if you want to book tours or something through them. Found others that are not too interested when you ask what natural attractions and free camps are in the region.
Best tourist info and most helpful with list of free camps in the area and other things to see was
Portland in Vic. Lady was tops. Consequently stayed in the region longer and spent up big and bought 5 tyres. Worst tourist info by far Narrabri. Went in 2X as thought the first time the women may have been having an off day. 4 wks later she was still having an off day and totally uninterested. No wonder 1/2 the shops in Narrabri are closed. Was so pee'd off spent no money in town and waited till got to Goodawindi to fill my scripts and
shop. Narrabri has a millions of people passing through monthly on the highway and nothing to attract people to make them stop. If they were smart they would open a
camping area behind the now closed Cotton Centre and charge $5 night and put somebody in the tourist info that is interested in speaking to low budget travellers who still spend money.
AnswerID:
392603
Reply By: Member - Norm C (QLD) - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 21:17
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 21:17
Many of the smaller town info centres (often manned by volunteers) are wonderful.
We dropped into the
St Helens (Tassie) info centre today. A wonderfully helpful elderly gentleman gave us all the info we wanted and more.
Is your van self sufficient he asked. If so, there are some great free camps up the road to the North (Bay or Fires). I recommend these two (
Swimcart Beach and Cosy Corner - we are currently at Cosy Corner North - wonderful spot). If you need
water there is a tap down the road, here (marking on a map). The
dump Point is here (marking on map). Make sure you go up to the
Pub in the Paddock (where Pricilla the beer drinking pig lives), etc etc.
My mum and dad used to volunteer in the Charters Towers info centre (till dad died some years ago) and I suspect ( and hope) they were just as helpful.
But yes, we have come across others, in larger towns and cities that are not as helpful and are more focussed on selling than general help to travellers. One of the many reasons we prefer the bush and smaller towns.
Norm C
AnswerID:
392625