Rural councils have to manage and maintain a complex array of signs, usually throughout a vast geographic area.
Many do not have the resources or expertise in-house to do this to high standard. This often causes negative feedback and concern from both the community and visitors. Tourist related signs and amenities signs can very quickly become obsolete, even to the point of directing people to amenities and attractions that no longer exist.
Tourism WA and Main Roads recommend that local governments review their tourism signage once every five years but this seldom occurs.
In these days of global positioning systems, satellite navigation, mobile phones and ipads with maps, you would think that roadside signage is on the way out and will soon be redundant. However in terms of tourism signage it is just as important today as it was ten years ago that a tourist region has effective signage to guide those independent travellers to destinations that their electronic devices will miss. Unfortunately, with some notable exceptions, the quality of tourism signage in Australia is generally poor which represents a huge missed opportunity for destinations to attract last minute visitors.
Wayfound can help rural councils with signage that is clear, functional, cost-effective, and well-located, ensuring funds invested in signage are well-spent, achieve the council’s objectives and the community’s needs for enjoyment, safety and wayfinding.
How much do you know about signage in your council area? Take our online survey
Is the signage in your council area up-to-date?
- How much tourist road signing is there in your council area? Definition: Tourist road signing gives visitors direction or guidance to information centres or displays, tourist attractions and accommodation. Although standard tourist signs provide some promotional benefits to tourism businesses, this is not their primary role.
- How much interpretative signing is there in your council area? Definition: Interpretative signs provide information to visitors regarding points of interests. Interpretative signs are usually located at the entrance of places of interest such as national and conservation parks and historic sites.
- Are you confident that you know the current condition of the tourism road and interpretive signage in your council area?
- Are there gaps in tourist road signing in your council area?
- Are there significant natural environment, heritage and/or historic sites in your council area that tourists could/should be better directed to and/or interpreted?
- Does your council have a comprehensive register of its tourist road and interpretive signage?
- Does your council have a schedule for regular inspection of it tourist road and interpretive signage?
