Up in The Mountains, it’s back to business as usual but with new faces.
One new face belongs to Colleen Kanzora and she is the new Director of Marketing for The Blue Mountains Tourism. Colleen is a “former” New Yorker.
We were fortunate to spend a half hour with her and it is clear that you can take the woman out of New York but you can’t take the New York out of the woman. In her past life, she has worked for a number of marquee institutions such as Madison Square Gardens, Radio City, and any number of Broadway theatres. She is smart, savvy, and already anxious to make her mark.
This is the first time that The BMT has had a dedicated Marketing Tourism Director since 2014
And they couldn’t have picked a more experienced marketer of Big Events. Ms. Kanzora has a depth of experience, as mentioned, in promoting Broadway shows, music, art and major events, such as Blue Man Group, and Cirque du Soleil.
She will certainly have to think Big up here. Ms Kanzora's hiring is the first step for Blue Mountains Tourism towards investing the $2.6 million Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Funding announced in July. It is certainly clear to us, who make The Blue Mountains our home, that over the past few years, the region has suffered from a series of bad luck disasters ranging from the bush fires to a world pandemic. Overall, tourism is but a fraction of what it was just two years ago.
Jointly funded by federal and state governments, the $2.6 million tourism grant will involve destination branding, marketing, website development, major events, industry communications and a business resilience program. In all of the aforementioned areas, The BMT will deliver the project in partnership with The Blue Mountains Council.
One of Ms Kanzora's first tasks will be to plan two major events; one for next March. We expect, given her background, that they will be world class. We can’t wait.