IT was the end of a "Groundhog Day" saga when Redland City Council unveiled its latest five-year tourism strategy on Wednesday.
Deputy mayor Alan Beard summed up the sentiment when he told last week's meeting the council had grappled with an appropriate strategy ever since he was elected.
"It's fair to say we have never done it really well and never got our head around it," he said.
"But this new tourism strategy goes as close as we've been (to getting it right)," he said.
The change in sentiment was evident when all 11 councillors voted to adopt the 84-page document.
It creates a sub-committee to liaise with tourism leaders and the city's economic advisory board.
According to the document, the sub-committee could eventually become the city's leading tourism organisation.
Cr Beard said the strategy was unique as it included an action plan and up-to-date statistics on trends in tourism, one of the city's eighth key growth sectors.
The action plan will be funded by council, business and the private sector with 21 of 33 proposals included in the 2015-16 budget, to be handed down on Thursday.
Mayor Karen Williams said tourism leaders and input into the strategy which was a living document and would be reviewed and updated regularly.
Councillors Murray Elliott and Craig Ogilvie said the strategy would eventually allow council to stand back from promoting tourism.
Cr Ogilvie, whose electorate includes Stradbroke Island, said he hoped it would also lead to a reduction in council spending on tourism.
However, he said he was concerned council would be doubling up on state and private sector projects if it paid for feasibility studies into a conference centre at Toondah Harbour and corporate "glamping" on Straddie. An officer said the glamping was for the entire city not just Straddie.
He asked for a June 2018 feasibility study into parking at Dunwich to be done much earlier.Division 6 councillor Julie Talty said she liked the report's innovative ideas including promoting the airstrip on Straddie and other events including the Mount Cotton Hillclimb and a bicycle riding competition in Redland Bay.
