Guts of Gippsland: Tourism campaign highlights forgotten region

A Gippsland tourism group is using their time in isolation to prepare a promotional video highlighting all that Yarram and the district has to offer.

Picture perfect: President of Yarram and Districts Traders' and Tourism Association Matt Langdon, Yarram, has helped the town create a video to push it's tourism. Pictured near a mural which is one of 10 to be painted around the town. Picture: Dannika Bonser

TOUGH times produce gutsy people.

And the people of Gippsland are some of the toughest around.

That’s the idea behind Guts of Gippsland, both a social media tourism campaign and online directory of places in the region that is aiming to draw in tourists to Yarram and surrounds.

“We wanted to find a name for it that included the whole region and wasn’t based around Yarram so when someone threw out Guts of Gippsland it stuck. For me it’s got a lot to do with the toughness of the people around here,” Yarram and District Tourism and Traders president Matt Langdon said

He said the group was working on a project to shine a light on the region, including places such as 90 Mile Beach and Port Albert, after visitor numbers had taken a hit from this summer’s bushfires.

Ten murals have been commissioned for the area, but that’s just the beginning.

The group has received a $15,920 grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal to produce a promotional video for the region.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the grant so it’s huge for regions like this,” Mr Langdon said.

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The video is to be filmed by a local and the community will have a say on what sights will be featured.

Despite coronavirus putting a dint in most tourism companies’ plans, Mr Langdon remains hopeful that time in isolation will be a positive thing for their project.

“I’m optimistic about it. I think it’s gonna be really tough the next month or two, but there’s opportunity with the murals so I think we’ve got a really good base to launch from.

“We’ve got lots of time to really prep it and make sure it’s what we want it to be. And it’s going to be a thing we can launch when the virus is over to bring people back to the town because we’ve definitely struggling as a community through this,” he said.