Coffs Coast Business News - February 2024

Each month, the City of Coffs Harbour's Economic Development & Tourism Team pulls together information for all businesses, large and small across the Coffs Coast, to help you stay informed, keep connected, and feel supported.

We hope you find the Coffs Coast Business News valuable - please feel free to forward it to colleagues and your team. They can also subscribe to receive their copy directly.

February's newsletter features regular segments on business events, news, and support/grants - and this month we also introduce two new sections focusing on marketing and sustainability. If there are other areas you would like to see as a focus, please let our team know at industry@chcc.nsw.gov.au 

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

Business events and training

• Coffs Harbour Chamber of Commerce + City of Coffs Harbour Breakfast - Thursday 22 February
• Woolgoolga & Northern Beaches Chamber of Commerce: Networking & Nibbles - Thursday 22 February
• Get your business ready for 2024 - Tuesday 27 February
• International Women's Day Breakfast - Friday 8 March
• Alt-Collective: Strengths Profile Business Breakfast - Thursday 14 March
• Coffs Coast Careers Connection - Thursday 16 May (save the date)

Local news and opportunities

• Coffs Coast Marketing
• Skills shortage and business conditions surveys
• Destination Coffs Coast on show at AIME
• 'Heads up' - Brelsford Park Upgrade, Oztag NSW Junior State Championships, National Touch League

Grant funding and business support

• Coffs Harbour Grant Finder
• AgriFutures Agritech Event Sponsorship Program
• City of Coffs Harbour Event Funding Program
• National Sustainability Framework and Toolkit for the Visitor Economy

What's On Coffs Coast and major event calendar

BUSINESS EVENTS & TRAINING

Coffs Coast International Women's Day Breakfast

Co-hosted by Zonta Club of Coffs Harbour, Business Professional Women's Coffs Coast, and Coffs Coast Business Women's Network, the 25th Coffs Coast International Women's Day Breakfast will join with UN Women Australia to examine pathways to greater inclusion for women and girls everywhere.

The event includes: Hot and cold buffet breakfast, keynote speaker Melissa Harvie, IWD Coffs Coast Woman of the Year Award, Zonta Awards, Southern Cross University IWD Scholarship, local charity raffle, networking time after cessation of formalities.

Friday 8 March, 6.30am - 8.40am
Coffs Harbour Racing Club and Function Centre, 62 Howard Street, Coffs Harbour

SAVE THE DATE - REGISTER TO EXHIBIT

Coffs Coast Career Connections

Coffs Coast Career Connections aims to raise the awareness of young people about their careers and provide information about locally available training and employment opportunities.

Exhibitor registrations now open

Thursday 16 May, 9am - 1pm, Coffs Harbour Racing Club, 62 Howard Sreet 

LOCAL NEWS & OPPORTUNITIES

DESTINATION COFFS COAST MARKETING

New for 2024, we'll provide a monthly snapshot of Destination Coffs Coast's current and upcoming marketing activities and campaigns. These are created and managed by our team, in collaboration with local businesses and other partners. Check out what's making impressions:

• Tourism Australia's official Facebook page: Post featuring Coffs Coast
• Coffs Coast Blog: Beat the heat & discover summer's chilled delights on the Coffs Coast
• Coffs Coast Blog: Riding waves for days - a surfing odyssey on the Coffs Coast
• Coffs Coast Blog: Fresh Foodie Finds - a taste of Europe on the Coffs Coast
• Escape Travel article: Coffs Harbour dog-friendly accommodation and attractions
• Coffs Harbour Airport Press Release: New research reveals Aussies need to find their 'Coff Switch'
• New Brisbane to Coffs flights: Virgin Australia set to increase regional network by nearly half in significant partnership expansion with Link Airways 
• Coffs Coast featured in Qantas in-flight magazine: February 2024
• Hot off the printer: Destination Coffs Coast Magazine

ALL COFFS COAST BUSINESSES are invited to share these campaigns in your business marketing. This is a great way to bring people from out of area to your business - and the content is already created for you!

Destination Coffs Coast is heading to AIME in 2024!

The 2024 Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) will be held in Melbourne later this month, and is shaping up to be the biggest in a decade. 

What is AIME? Think 'speed dating' for buyers and exhibitors showcasing the best on offer for the meeting, incentives, conferencing, and events (MICE) market. Attendees will also learn about emerging markets, best practices, trends, and forecasts to capitalise on the Asia Pacific's growing business events industry.  

Who will be there? More than 4000 buyers from Australia and around the world will be in attendance, alongside 570 exhibitors. For the first time, Destination Coffs Coast will share a booth with Pacific Bay Resort, winner of Business Event Venue of the Year at the 2023 North Coast Tourism Awards. 

Why is AIME important? The MICE market is an attractive form of tourism due to its nature. Visitor Economy businesses generally benefit from high-yielding, mid-week visitation. By attending AIME, the Coffs Coast will be on show to prospective buyers looking for locations to bring their next event.  

'HEADS UP' - TRAFFIC IMPACT FROM MAJOR EVENTS

For our business community, there are three reminders regarding upcoming works and events that may require extra travel time to be factored in:

• Brelsford Park Upgrade
  Works commenced Monday 5 February, and are scheduled for completion around the middle of the year. Traffic control will be in place along Albany Street, Earl Street, and Curacoa Street.
  MORE DETAILS HERE
   
• Oztag Junior State Championships: 23-25 February

  The annual Junior Oztag tournament is coming up later this month, which sees over 8000 players, spectators, and officials converge to the region. 
   

• National Touch League: 8-10 March
  The annual National Touch League Championships attracts thousands of participants from all over Australia. 

For our Visitor Economy businesses, check your operating hours are correct on your ATDW listing and socials.

GRANT FUNDING & BUSINESS SUPPORT

COFFS HARBOUR GRANT FINDER

The City of Coffs Harbour provides a free service for locals to find grants and grant writing tips. Register to be notified of specific grants for your business or organisation.

CITY OF COFFS HARBOUR EVENT FUNDING PROGRAM

Looking to run an event on the Coffs Coast? Events play a significant role in attracting large volumes of new and repeat visitors to Coffs Harbour, as well as providing a vibrant backdrop of activity, entertainment, education and wellbeing for the residents of the broader Coffs Coast.

The City is currently accepting submissions for events planned to run prior to 30 June 2024. Applications will close 4pm Thursday 15 February, 2024.

NATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORK AND TOOLKIT FOR VISITOR ECONOMY BUSINESSES

Visitor Economy businesses across the country now have access to the National Sustainability Framework and Sustainable Tourism Toolkit, courtesy of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade).

We're not going to lie, the Framework (12 pages) and Toolkit (71 pages) are big bodies of work! However, don't feel you need to read and implement everything straight away. Over the next 12 months, the City's Economic Development & Tourism Team will unpack some of the important parts of the documents into monthly segments, with examples and applications for your business. 

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? 
Sustainable tourism takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR MY BUSINESS?
Embracing sustainability will help visitor economy businesses by:

• Improving profitability and reducing costs
• Increasing reputation, customer and employee satisfaction, competitiveness, and appeal to customers and employees
• Lowering their carbon footprint
• Adapting to and increasing resilience to climate change
• Reducing environmental impact through reuse, repair, recycling and waste reduction
• Improving relationships with customers, employees, local communities and suppliers
• Assisting to preserve iconic natural attractions that draw visitors to Australia.

WHAT IS A VISITOR ECONOMY BUSINESS?
Visitors come to the Coffs Coast for many reasons: to holiday; visit family and friends; attend an event; experience arts and culture; to study or learn; to participate in sport, entertainment, employment, or business meetings; for presentations and conferences; work incentives or rewards; for shopping or health purposes.

If you’re a workplace or business that services or meets the needs of any of these visitors, or even if you employ visitors, you are part of the visitor economy!

In 2021 the Coffs Coast was globally recognised as an ECO Destination. For the Coffs Coast visitor economy to be sustainable, all businesses in the visitor economy have a responsibility to take actions that protect and conserve our unique environments, build resilience to climate change, respectfully engage with our rich and diverse cultures, and work collaboratively with local communities, employees and suppliers to ensure that tourism benefits everyone.

Now that we've set the scene, next month we'll take a deeper look at the first pillar of the framework "Taking a managed approach".

WHAT'S ON @ COFFS COAST

Please reach out to our team at City of Coffs Harbour if you have any questions.

Check out our 6 degrees business support website for business events and resources.
For tourism industry and visitor economy business support and information, go to our Coffs Coast tourism industry hub.

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