A passionate Geraldton local is up in arms the Mid West seems to constantly miss out on crucial funding and attention for tourism despite the region’s significant potential.
Tyson Overstone, owner of Sweet Orange Productions, believes more needs to be done for the windy city in supporting and attracting visitors to the region.
He said Geraldton had so much untapped potential needing to be explored.
Mr Overstone is also a board member of Tourism Geraldton Mid West and one of the founders of Geraldton’s iconic Shore Leave festival.
Having been recently contracted to work at the Margaret River Pro, Mr Overstone said he could not believe the amount of money constantly poured into the South West for tourism and events.
“I was blown away being part of a world-class event of that level in WA, but I think it also reminded me of how little love we get for tourism in the Mid West,” he said.
“I’m not originally from Geraldton, my wife is, but when I got to Geraldton I couldn’t believe how amazing it was.”
Mr Overstone said the original idea for Shore Leave was to help change the stigma of the regional city as it was the hotspot for crayfish.
He said the process to get Shore Leave off the ground — which didn’t happen this year — involved “a lot of effort, begging, borrowing and bending over backwards”.
“I thought that was great at the time but now after being at an event down south and seeing the million of dollars that get spent down there, I feel like we’re getting a bit of a raw deal,” Mr Overstone said.
“I would like to start working on how we can find out how to talk to the right people, get some tourism money and start showcasing all these tourism heroes and assets we have that are just as good, if not better, than the South West.”
Tourism Minister Reece Whitby said the strong tourism appeal of Geraldton was recognised and accounted for in the nearly $36 million allocated to regional tourism in the recent State Budget.
“This includes $20 million over the next four years to grow Aboriginal tourism across the State, including the Mid West, and $17.4 million in funding for more than 80 regional events next financial year, including popular Mid West events such as Outback Bloom, Smokin’ Barrel Fest, Adventure Trek Kalbarri and the Mullewa Muster & Rodeo that will attract visitors to the region, create local jobs and drive community vibrancy,” he said.
“Geraldton and the Mid West have been promoted around the world through Tourism WA’s latest Walking On A Dream campaign, including breakout destination videos showcasing locations such as Hutt Lagoon and the Kalbarri Skywalk, in advertisements being rolled out across domestic and international markets.”
Mr Whitby also said Geraldton was identified as a key cruise port in Tourism WA’s Cruise Tourism Strategy 2023-2033 and would continue to promote Geraldton and the Mid West to the intrastate market.
According to Mr Overstone, he often experienced the calibre and quality of talent in Geraldton was neither recognised nor acknowledged.
“I think if we could showcase how many amazing events and tourism operators we have in this region and how good we are at working together to support each other, rather than fighting against each other, we could make a change,” he said.
“I think that’s what’s different about the Mid West — we’re all so hungry to prove ourselves that we’re a lot more supportive.”
An avenue worth exploring to bolster tourism in Geraldton was surfing, Mr Overstone said.
This was because the renowned Frothin’ Fools surf contest had put Geraldton on the map for up-and-coming surfers as the event now carried the same accreditation points as South West and metro comps.
Mr Overstone said Geraldton would be able to capitalise on surfing even more if the highly anticipated Back Beach artificial reef went ahead.
“The amount of tourism surfing brings in is crazy. After seeing the level of exposure and tourism at the Margaret River Pro this year, it’s reminded me if we had that artificial reef at Back Beach, we could be having world-class events that could be getting live streamed to the world,” he said.
“The economic benefits of a good surf break are genuinely out of this world — if we could have an artificial reef and a rideable wave, the level of tourism and exposure through surfing comps, windsurfing comps and longboard comps that could come to town is almost unmeasurable.
“People often say West is best, but I always say Mid West is best.”
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