BMATA: the tourism oligopoly that ate itself

September 29, 2020

There once was an outfit dubbed BMATA, which grew out of failed BMLOT, which grew out of BMAA, which grew apart from BMCC.

BMATA (Blue Mountains Accommodation and Tourism Association
BMLOT (Blue Mountains Lithgow and Oberon Tourism
BMAA (Blue Mountains Accommodation Association)
BMTA (Blue Mountains Tourism Authority, a division of the Blue Mountains Council)
NSW Railways

No amount of delegation, handover or rebranding over the years seems to have secured a robust and resilient organisation to champion Blue Mountains tourism in all its rich diversity. Politics and egos seemed to have perpetually undermined this noble ideal.

At BMLOT, Randall ultimately got fed up with the internal politics. Then new blood Kiwi James was headhunted, to only last a year and a half at the helm in 2012 to “do whatever it takes” – But for whom?

Whatever the acronym, this so-called not-for-profit seems to have been more about market dominance for a few from the big end of town, not about honest representation for all members. Controlling politics have shaped the complicit Board’s choice of executives and their management styles.

The local tourism industry concept started out in 1998 to boost accommodation stays across the Upper Blue Mountains. It promoted itself as a “vibrant and focused tourism advocacy body.” But the influencers quickly secured it as an agency for their own ends, dubbing it an “integrated tourism structure.”

It didn’t take long for poorer cousins Lithgow and Oberon to wake up to their hangers-on status and want out. “Tangible benefits and outcomes for members” – well, only the select big corporate members.

The same rot festered just like when in February 2014, there was a board exodus at BMLOT as its chairman, treasurer and secretary all suddenly quit.

Just over a year later BMLOT was in disarray wanting to jettison Oberon and Lithgow in favour of luring funds from Hawesbury and Penrith. But it was going broke quickly with outstanding debts, such that BMCC wrote off the $4431 debt BMLOT owed it. Finally, in June 2015 the BMLOT board decided to “cease to exist”.

Familiar faces kept popping up at rebranded launches in 2015, 2018, 2019. Member slaves were enticed to volunteer at a visitor hybrid Visitor Information Centre (VIC), primarily to lure and funnel daytrippers off the incoming Sydney trains to flog tickets to mass tourism rides offered by BMATA’s elite corporate members at the big end of town.

Volunteers were ordered to only sell the ride tickets of BMATA’s big corporate elite members. Lesser members had to accept that their minnow membership status as being a mere funding base.

Even Nature Trail was enticed to join from the lure of listing on various websites, publicity support, free placement of brochures in visitor information centres, special advertising rates and networking opportunities. This proved useless. We even contributed slave labour at the VIC.

That was until after tour director in his generous volunteering spirit at the VIC offered free guided ‘famil’ hiking tours to other volunteers, only to be told in no uncertain terms by the Executive Officer:

“Your unsolicited emailing of volunteers last week using the internal VIC email list did cause unease within VIC volunteers, BMT supervisor & myself.
Providing your personal contact details to tourist visitors to the VIC was causing concern.
The blurring of activities between legitimate VIC activities and your ‘Nature Trail’ walking tour business has been proving increasingly difficult to manage.
In December we provided guidance to you regarding the need to separate your walking tour activities from working at the VIC and running famils. In February we advised you that VIC supervisors could not become involved in any way with your organising walking trips/famils. Over the past week your activities have seen VIC supervisor/myself involved in managing aspects of your setup of famils.
We jointly decided yesterday that you could continue to volunteer at the VIC. You undertook to not email other volunteers nor give out your personal contact details to tourists entering the VIC. However as per your advice below, I note you’ll no longer be available to work as a volunteer at the VIC.”

Arrogance insinuating rules for some, eh?

Some members were clearly more equal than others in the mindset of this Executive Officer.

NSW Tourism Minister happily cuts a ribbon to launch the ‘VIC’ at no cost to his government

On 5th March 2020, copping an unprovoked earful of four-letter word trash from the Executive Officer in the VIC back room, our Tour Director decided to resign from BMATA with an instructive letter to the BMATA Treasurer on 16th March 2020. Our membership had endured 3 months from 11th December 2018 to 16th March 2019.

Apparently, the local volunteer slaves put in 7,200 hours in the first year at the VIC ticket booth, saving BMATA big members the equivalent of $200,000 in wages. In the months that followed, members and volunteers woke up to the ticket booth scam and abuse and so the slaves steadily dropped off.

The VIC venture launched in October 2018 and shut down in January 2020, abandoning the shopfront lease by June 2020. The place used to be a Chinese restaurant, then was The Trolley Shoppe until that unprofitable venture failed. Now it’s a vintage records store. Good luck to the new tenant.

Where are all the BMATA members now? Hasn’t the pandemic been an equaliser?

BMATA finally wound up completely this year. Its website has since been taken down and all social media presence removed. So where did the membership dues end up?