SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

The events landscape across the Australia’s Golden Outback region

Each year, the Australia’s Golden Outback region (covering 54% of WA) hosts a range of events (there are 24 tourism events in the AGO Holiday Planner Events Listing). AGO’s events mostly fall into one of the below categories:

• Sporting events

• Agricultural shows and farm-related events like field days

• Community markets

• Venue-specific activations like live music

• Horse Race rounds

• Wildflower celebrations

• Car events

Just 10 AGO events (or 12% of WA’s total State sponsored events) are supported under Tourism WA’s event funding categories, all of which are in the lowest funding level, the Regional Events Scheme (RES), which has a maximum funding allocation of $40,000 per event. These are:

• Koorda Starry Weekend, April

• Leonora Golden Gift, June Goldfields Cyclassic & Community Fondo, June

• Coolgardie Rodeo & Ute Muster, August

• Mt Magnet Astro Rocks Fest, September

• Ravensthorpe and Hopetown Wildflower Show and Spring Festival, September

• Laverfest, Laverton, September

• Yalgoo Emy Festival, October

• Kalgoorlie Desert Race, October

• St Barbara’s Festival Kalgoorlie, December

Currently, there are no large-scale destination events that are funded under the Regional Events Program (REP), making it the only tourism region within WA to not be funded through REP.

The current events landscape in Esperance Esperance has an annual calendar of events that showcases some of the town’s key activities and offerings. These events predominantly cater to a local audience through a range of community activations such as markets, live music, summer events such as outdoor movies and twilight markets, annual holiday celebrations and seasonal competitions.

Outside of repeat events such as growers markets, twilight markets and race rounds, Esperance hosts upwards of 15 events for the community, including:

1. Australia Day in the Park

2. Moving Movies

3. Esperance Deep Sea Angling Classic

4. Grass Patch Yabbie Classic

5. ANZAC Day Ceremony

6. Winter and Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

7. NAIDOC Week

8. French Weekend

9. Esperance Music Festival

10. Esperance Wildflower Festival

11. Esperance Agricultural Show

12. Garage Sale Trail

13. Edge of the Bay Festival

14. Boxing Day Races

15. New Years Eve on the Foreshore

From discussions with the industry, it’s evident that the live music scene in Esperance is a key strength of the event line-up in Esperance, with a host of local acoustic musicians gaining a strong following, and artfully curated live music events providing experiences for locals and visitors. Missing from the line-up are large-scale destination events that drive overnight visitation from outside of Esperance and help to showcase the region’s offering.

EVENT SIZE / SCALE

Large scale / major Esperance Deep Sea Angling Classic

Balmy Nights Festival

Boxing Day Races

Growers Markets

New Years Eve on the Foreshore

Edge of the Bay Festival

Grass Patch Yabbie Classic

Australia Day in the Park

Garage Sale Trail

Esperance Wildflower Festival

Esperance Agricultural Show

Twilight Markets

Intimate events

Strengths and opportunities

Esperance’s natural beauty is its key strength. With arguably some of the most pristine beaches in Australia, Esperance has an enviable location among stunning natural landscapes. Strengths and opportunities include:

• The captive audience of West Australians who’ve been travelling their home state over COVID has allowed more people to experience the region, with positive word-ofmouth growing the reach of the Esperance’s tourism/ experience offering.

• The ‘shareability’ of Esperance’s natural beauty through imagery means it receives above-average engagement and reach through digital platforms and influencer content.

• Promotion and tie in of primary industries, such as barley.

• The changing nature of traveller’s needs to incorporate slow travel, off-grid experiences and getting back to basics, all experiences that lean into Esperance’s natural assets.

• Harnessing the high-yield self-drive market travelling the Nullarbor

The under-representation of AGO’s events within the line-up of Tourism WA’s sponsored events provides a big opportunity for Esperance, especially in RES in the first few years.

• Indigenous content

Weaknesses and threats

While there is an eager and passionate volunteer base of event holders, as well as a dedicated team within the Shire and business community who run a host of community events, there are some challenges to be faced.

• The distance from key markets, such as Perth, and limited flight availability present several barriers to travel for consumers considering to attend events in Esperance.

• The competition from numerous events closer to Perth

• South Regional TAFE doesn’t currently offer tourism, events or hospitality courses out of their Esperance campus. This creates a big gap in skills development in these industries, all of which are important to the future growth of Esperance.

• Marketing – there are some great events on the annual calendar, they just need to be shared further, even if this is just through free/low cost marketing methods.

• Accommodation was mentioned as an issue from all survey participants. In particular, there is limited accommodation that matches the high-yield target visitor that survey participants wanted to attract through events.

• There is a weakness that the current consumer understanding of Esperance is that it’s ‘just a beach’

• There is a threat of guests coming to a well-curated event, and the rest of the consumer experience not meeting expectations outside of event period, for example beach front coffee shops not being open on weekends, or only having 1-2 restaurant options on a Monday night.

Services, facilities and products to support events (marquees, on-trend furniture hire, portable toilets) not being available in town may drive up the cost of event production and limit the types of events that Esperance can hold.

Weather poses a large risk for outdoor events that showcase Esperance’s greatest asset, its pristine natural environment.

• WIFI connection and cellular service limit visitor’s ability to share their experiences in real time and could deter digital nomads and location independent workers from extending their stay. It may also be a barrier for business events.

• Infrastructure, such as electricity, can limit the type of shows or events wanting to present in Esperance.