Community Consultation

An important aspect of planning for tourism in a destination community is working with and empowering local people that are not directly involved in tourism, to participate constructively in decisions about tourism. An innovative consultation process, known as a ‘citizens’ jury’, is being established to gain community input into planning for tourism over the next ten years for Byron shire.

So named because of its similarity to a legal jury, a citizens' jury consists of about 20 randomly selected citizens from a destination community that are brought together to meet over a period of 2-3 days to review destination development and management issues and to contribute to the development of a strategic vision for tourism in Byron Shire.

As part of the process, citizens have the chance to hear from expert ‘witnesses’ who have particular knowledge about the local area as well as those who have expertise in tourism planning both nationally and internationally. The citizen jury process will be facilitated in Byron Bay in October 2007.

In addition, community individuals and groups can contribute to the consultation process through this website up until December 10, 2007. Just head to the 'have your say' page on our site