General News
24 June, 2023
Visitor services get permanent home
VISITOR services in Horsham will no longer be confined to a tiny shared space at the Town Hall box office. Horsham Rural City Council is moving ahead with co-locating visitor and box office services permanently in the Town Hall’s former commercial...
VISITOR services in Horsham will no longer be confined to a tiny shared space at the Town Hall box office.
Horsham Rural City Council is moving ahead with co-locating visitor and box office services permanently in the Town Hall’s former commercial café space.
The move will pave the way for local products, including art, to be given prominence, potentially generating extra revenue, council heard.
In a report to councillors, creative services and events lead Michelle Rethus said the dedicated café space had to date been underutilised.
“Unfortunately, the original design and fitout of the café store, kitchen preparation, servery, waste handling and space for toilets limit how the space can be used commercially,” Ms Rethus said.
“Since the opening of Horsham Town Hall in 2016 the café space has experienced a fluctuation of tenancy, with two tenants occupying the space for a total of approximately three years across the past seven,” she said.
“The space was vacated for the second time late last year… with ownership handed back to HRCC in late February.”
Council had provided visitor services at the town hall since November 2020, Ms Rethus said.
“Visitor numbers have steadily increased at Horsham Town Hall since Covid and improved from the previous site (in O’Callaghan’s Parade).”
However, some people had complained that finding the site was difficult and “it is clear the box office and staff accommodation is sub-optimal”, she said.
“An example is the local produce display and ‘store’ that is tucked into a corner on three shelves and is not obviously viewable.
“Sales of local produce are compromised when they could be a key selling point.”
Ms Rethus advised that HRCC had “specific obligations regarding its Victoria Tourism Industry Council accreditation around provision of parking, space, service times and levels that we need to maintain to meet VTIC standards”.
However, the new arrangement will enable visitor services to operate between 10am and 4pm on weekdays, taking advantage of street frontage to help attract customers and providing ample room to make “the local produce shop a drawing card”.
“There is also an opportunity to explore combining the art shop into the visitor services space,” Ms Rethus said.
“By locating this, at least in part, to the visitor services, the profile of local produce and local art is elevated.
“This option allows for the creation of a true visitor services space, promoting an inviting environment for visitors to spend more time, read their information and charge devices.”