In partnership with Nourish Group and Australian Regional Tourism
Overview
Destination Southern is participating in a pilot project to co-design a community-informed, human-centred framework for measuring the social impact of tourism. Delivered in partnership with Nourish Group and Australian Regional Tourism (ART), the project will explore how tourism contributes to the wellbeing of communities across Southern NSW, both positively and negatively, alongside traditional economic indicators.
By trialling a place-based Social Impact Reporting model, this initiative aims to create a replicable and meaningful benchmark that tourism operators, councils, and decision-makers can use to improve community alignment, guide investment, and build confidence in the visitor economy’s broader value.
The project supports previous work in this field, including the Value of Tourism and the Value of Tourism to Councils projects.
The October project update can be found after the benefits to the tourism industry section below.
Listen to Destination Southern’s General Manager, Richard Everson, speak with Eddie Williams about the Social Impact Project on ABC South East NSW Breakfast here.
Focus Areas
The pilot project explores two key areas of focus through a series of workshops and community engagement activities:
1. Measuring Community Sentiment on Tourism and Social Impact
This stream will explore how residents view tourism in their local area, its benefits, challenges, and its role in shaping their sense of place, pride, and wellbeing. The project will investigate topics such as social and cultural connections, employment opportunities, participation in local activities, and community resilience, while also addressing concerns like crowding and environmental pressures. The findings will help develop strategies that align tourism growth with local values.
2. Social Impact of Mountain Bike Trail Infrastructure
This stream will assess the social benefits produced by MTB trail infrastructure, focusing on the wider influence of trail use across six key venues in the region. It will explore how trail networks promote community engagement with outdoor spaces, enhance local wellbeing, and generate value beyond just economic gains. Key aspects include employment opportunities, tourism participation, and connections between infrastructure and community identity.
Both streams will include surveys, stakeholder consultations and targeted workshops to gather a variety of regional perspectives.
Stakeholder Insights
Tourism and MTB operators, councils, and community groups will contribute insights through in-region workshops.
Dana Ronan and participants at the Eurobodalla Botanic Garden Workshop | Credit Richard Everson
Workshops and Surveys
Following workshops held in a number of LGAs across the region, we invited operators to share their thoughts with us via surveys, including insights into how tourism affects daily life, and how the new Mountain Bike Trails (MBT) are influencing our communities.
Project Objectives
- Trial a place-based approach to Social Impact Reporting
- Define wellbeing indicators most relevant to regional communities
- Understand community perceptions of tourism’s value and impact
- Strengthen local engagement and inform values-aligned tourism strategies
- Create a framework that can guide investment, funding, and policy decisions
Benefits to the Tourism Industry
For tourism operators, this project offers a valuable chance to better understand the social impact of their work. It recognises that tourism not only boosts local economies but also shapes community identity, energises public spaces, and promotes the overall health and wellbeing of regional areas. By engaging in or following the outcomes of this pilot, operators will be better equipped to align their business with community needs and demonstrate value to partners, investors, and policymakers.
Findings from the pilot will guide a practical, repeatable model for social impact reporting throughout NSW. The framework will aid long-term destination planning, unlock funding opportunities, and foster stronger, more inclusive tourism strategies.
Project Update – October 2025
The Social Impact of Tourism Pilot Project is now well underway across Southern NSW, with early results confirming strong community support for both tourism and mountain biking as contributors to regional wellbeing.
Over the past six months, Destination Southern NSW, Nourish Group and Australian Regional Tourism have delivered stakeholder workshops in Mogo, Eden, Jindabyne and Queanbeyan to co-design the outcomes that matter most to local communities. These sessions identified the positive and negative impacts residents experience and helped shape two Program Logic Models for the Mountain Biking and Tourism streams.
Using these community-defined outcomes, the project has applied the Australian Social Value Bank (ASVB) methodology to measure changes in wellbeing across key domains such as physical activity, community connection, employment satisfaction and perceptions of safety. Baseline surveys have now been completed for the South Coast, with surveys for the Snowy Mountains and Tablelands closing the last week of November.
Emerging Results
Early findings show consistently positive sentiment:
Mountain biking:
- 79 per cent of respondents view MTB positively
- 89 per cent believe MTB delivers more benefits than drawbacks
Tourism
- Around 80 per cent of respondents agree that tourism provides more benefits than negative impacts
Preliminary ASVB valuations indicate significant wellbeing benefits for communities. Initial modelling shows annual wellbeing gains of approximately $18,675 per person for mountain biking users and $36,593 per person linked to tourism-related outcomes in the Bega Valley. Final population-level extrapolations will be completed once all regional surveys are finalised.
These insights provide a measurable baseline for understanding how tourism contributes to community wellbeing beyond economic metrics. For the first time in NSW, both mountain biking and tourism have been assessed through a social impact lens, offering a powerful new evidence base for planning, investment and advocacy.
Next Steps
- Finalise surveying stakeholder in the Snowies and Tablelands
- Analysis of all regional data sets
- Consolidated final report with a proposed repeatable Social Impact Reporting framework for NSW
The pilot continues to demonstrate strong industry leadership and a values-aligned approach to shaping the future visitor economy. Destination Southern NSW will share final results and recommendations once reporting is complete.