September 18

Date

Dear All,

We’ve been busy over the past month finalising our new consumer brand and working on our new visitor website and app – all of which are due to launch in late November.

We’ve secured some fantastic PR wins for the region, and our social channels continue to show steady growth and strong engagement.

Destination Victoria (Visit Victoria’s annual conference) is coming up on 8 October. It’s shaping up to be an insightful and valuable day – some of our team we be there and we’d love to see you too. We’ve included details below on how to book your tickets for this event.

If you haven’t signed up as a DCV partner, now’s the perfect time. Keep reading to learn more, and please share this newsletter with any businesses you know that could benefit from tourism updates and support in the region.

  • Website and App Update
  • PR Wins
  • Social Media Update
  • The Value of Partnership
  • Destination Victoria Conference

We’re excited about the way our new brand and identity is coming together and look forward to working with you to continue building a thriving visitor economy.

Cheers,

Annissa and the DCV Team

WEBSITE AND APP UPDATE

We’ve been working closely with our web development team, ROAM, on building a new visitor website. This platform is designed with both visitors and our partners in mind, ensuring a more user-friendly, visually engaging, and content-rich space that will inspire travel to our region. For our partners, this means greater visibility through improved search functionality, stronger storytelling, and seamless integration with our marketing campaigns, ultimately connecting your business with a larger and more engaged audience.

Alongside the new website, we’re also working with Specialist Apps, an Australian-based developer, to launch our new visitor app. This app will provide travellers with an on-the-go tool to explore the region, offering curated itineraries, maps, events, and insider tips at their fingertips. For our partners, the app represents another powerful platform to feature your business directly in front of visitors when they’re making decisions about where to eat, stay, shop and explore. With its intuitive design and real-time updates, it will help increase engagement and encourage travellers to discover and experience more of what our region has to offer.

We are excited to launch both the new website and visitor app in late November.

PR Wins

Our region continues to shine in the media, with strong coverage across print, digital and broadcast – including extensive coverage for Daylesford, Hepburn Springs and surrounds on The Block on Channel Nine.

See below a list of recent PR highlights that have been coordinated in-house by our team.

We were also excited to see Trentham named as Australia’s Top Tiny Tourism Town at the National Top Tourism Town awards. Trentham is the first Victorian town to be awarded gold in any category since the awards commenced in 2022. Our team coordinated the submission in partnership with Hepburn Shire Council. The win has led to some fantastic media coverage for Trentham, highlights include:

SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATE

Our social channels are continuing to grow, with Facebook now at 56.2k+ followers and Instagram at 35.5k+, alongside TikTok achieving its biggest month of follower growth so far.

Engagement remains strong across all platforms, showing that our audiences aren’t just growing but actively connecting with our content. This momentum is being fuelled by our recent collaboration with Visit Victoria and the launch of our Grow Your Audience campaign – with just a few spots left, now’s the time to get involved.

We also have another collaboration with Visit Victoria planned for October, which will feature Macedon Ranges based businesses.

We’re excited to carry this growth into our upcoming rebrand, with our channels set to play a key role in reaching new audiences and amplifying the region’s story.

DCV PARTNERSHIP BENEFIT

A partnership with DCV offers real value by connecting your business to a wide range of marketing and support opportunities. We provide training programs to help operators strengthen skills and enhance their visitor offering, while our PR activity ensures the region, and your business (where possible) is represented.

Our regular consumer eDMs showcase partner content directly to an engaged audience, while our cooperative marketing extends your reach through the regional travel guide, social media channels and newsletters. We also nurture relationships with external organisations such as Visit Victoria, Australian Traveller and Sitchu, opening up even greater exposure through targeted marketing opportunities.

The more tourism products we have to promote, the stronger and more compelling our regional story becomes. By working together, we amplify individual efforts and shine a light on the region’s attractions and businesses.

Here’s what some of partners are saying about DCV support and marketing:

“We have been members and taken advantage of the training and advertising opportunities of DCV, previously DMT, since 2018. From being put forward for morning weather segments and included in online and print publication itineraries, to getting advice and feedback on grant applications, through to accessing to free or subsidised training from industry leaders and being able to have a say in the way our region is marketed, our DCV membership is an invaluable resource for our small tourism business”.

Rhain – The Old Auction House

“Making time for education and improving skills in business helps keep me inspired to grow. The support of DCV with relevant sessions in Strategy and AI is a valuable reminder to stay current, to keep searching for better solutions,and to continue improving. I love walking away with those little nuggets of information that so easily get buried in the day-to-day of running a business.”

Christina – Sisko Chocolate

“Another invaluable training session by DCV. Fabienne updated on developments in AI and how to build effective digital strategies in this rapidly changing digital world. 10/10!”

Andrew – Braeside Mount Macedon

“The recent training that DCV put on with Fabienne on effective digital strategies and AI was very practical, packed with great tips that we’ve already built into our strategies. As a result, our website pageviews increased by 70% compared to last month, showing the real value of the session. Thank you so much for this fabulous session!”

Emily Blades – The Victoria Hotel Woodend.

DESTINATION VICTORIA CONFERENCE

Register for Destination Victoria 2025

Destination Victoria will bring together participants of the State’s visitor economy, with Alice Zaslavsky leading a stellar program of inspirational leaders, industry experts and Victorian operators discussing the trends and insights that will set up Victoria’s visitor economy for growth over the next five years. We hope to see you there!

Date: Wednesday, 8 October
Time: 8.45am – 5.15pm
Venue: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
Secure your place today: Register Today

GOT A QUESTION?

If you have nay questions of feedback please get in touch vie the button below.

 

 

We look forward to seeing you online in a couple of weeks
Annissa White (she/her)
Operations Manager
Destination Central Victoria