Hills and valley merger

By Tania Martin
A NEW marketing body is set to promote the Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley as one region following the merge of Destination Yarra Valley Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley Brand.
The merger announced last week aims to provide the Shire of Yarra Ranges with a regional marketing board to promote tourism, wine, food and agribusiness.
Shire of Yarra Ranges chief executive officer, Rob Hauser, will chair an interim board for the new body which is to be known as Yarra Ranges Regional Marketing.
Mr Hauser said the new body would develop and undertake a range of activities and marketing strategies designed to promote both regions at a local, Australian and international level.
Mr Hauser said marketing strategies would include focusing on both the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges strengths such as tourism, wine, food and agribusiness.
Chairman of Destination Yarra Valley Dandenong Ranges, Peter Ferguson, said everyone who lives in the Yarra Valley knows the quality of local wines and tourism experiences.
But Mr Ferguson said the new marketing board wants to make sure people throughout Australia and the rest of world know about what the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges has to offer.
Yarra Valley Brand chairman, John Harris, said that having a single entity would reduce the potential for duplication and overlapping and would results in a consolidated marketing effort.
“It is clear that as a result of strong competition from other regions around Australia, we need to make the most of our efforts to market our part of the world,” he said.
Mr Hauser said both organisations are currently undergoing a process to dissolve into the new merged entity, and that an initial focus of the new board would be to ensure that all existing commitment of both former organisations are met.