Destination Harvey Region (DHR) is the consumer-facing brand of the Shire of Harvey.
DHR was established in response to several key challenges being experienced by the Local Government at the time. To address these challenges, the Shire developed the HarveyRegion.com.au website, which consolidates the region’s priority service areas ‘Visit’, ‘Invest’, and ‘Corporate’ into a single, digital hub.
Through this initiative, the Harvey Region is positioned as “a fabulous place to live, work, visit, and invest”, ultimately driving visitation, economic development, brand awareness and regional pride.
Project cost
$150,000
Project timeframe
18 months
What was the problem or opportunity being addressed?
The DHR brand was established in response to three key challenges:
- The Shire was perceived as a small rural shire, despite 30,000 residents, impacting investment
- The Harvey Visitor Centre had closed
- Tourism activity in the region was below potential.
How the project addressed the problem or opportunity
Following the closure of the visitor centre and the identification of several challenges in its Economic Development Strategy, the Shire reviewed tourism and economic development worldwide. This process also involved stakeholder engagement with local businesses to understand their insights and unique local challenges.
Cities such as Manchester and Auckland highlighted the benefits of using a single logo to drive investment and tourism, while tailoring brand approaches to target audiences. A clear vision was established: to create a quality, engaging platform that would increase brand awareness and industry knowledge, while driving visitation and investment in the region.
The project commenced with a detailed procurement and was delivered in three phases:
- Visit – Focused on tourism, events, and experiences. Features include interactive maps, over 575 listings, a wedding/event supplier hub, itineraries, and a “What’s On” section.
- Invest – Adapted from the Shire’s Invest Harvey Region document, this section highlights local businesses and opportunities. It includes case studies, sector reviews, data links, and guidance for investors.
- Corporate – Provides brand and business unit information, media resources, industry news, and access to Harvey Region images and videos.
Weekly meetings with the developer ensured alignment on structure, features, and timelines. The Shire engaged local photographers to build a high-quality visual library, ensuring brand consistency across the website and marketing materials. The internal team led content development and population, which not only reduced costs but also strengthened ownership and understanding of the platform.
To support local businesses, the Shire offered to create free listings for tourism and related operators. Many lacked professional imagery, so the Shire hosted photo shoots and provided images at no cost, helping businesses enhance their marketing and social media presence.
Project outcomes
The sites were promoted through newsletters, social media, and direct communications. It has become the central reference point for visitor enquiries and regional promotion.
A number of businesses have expressed interest in being featured in future updates, and the site is now regularly referenced in communications with stakeholders.
Quarterly growth continues with Q2 2025 reaching 58,579 views, up 4.9% from Q1 2025 and a significant 68.5% increase compared to Q2 2024. Organic search has increased over 18 months by 49.5%. Highlighting industry support, direct link referral has increased by 25% over 18 months.
Lessons learnt
- Managing content development in-house gave the Shire full control over messaging, improved internal capability, and reduced costs.
- While design and photography were outsourced, the internal team led planning, content upload, and coordination, ensuring alignment with strategic goals.
- Cross-team collaboration and a small, focused project group helped maintain momentum and quality.
- By involving local businesses in content reviews and keeping them informed, the Shire built trust, ensured accuracy, and strengthened community connections.
- With over 575 listings, 250 pages, 30 itineraries, 200 events, and 5,000 media files, the project required far more time than expected.
- Future projects would benefit from additional internal staffing.
- Another lesson was the need to integrate compliance checks earlier when working with local businesses, which would streamline approvals and avoid delays.
