Tourism

The Falls Festival is not just any event. It has played a major role for tourism in the small towns of Lorne, Victoria and Marion Bay, Tasmania.

Because these two locations are outside the big cities, it has forced festival go-ers to explore the less well-known areas surrounding it; especially since more than half the festival's 14,500 fans came from interstate.

The benefit of tourism from the Falls Festival is the significant economic impact on Tasmania and Victoria. “An independent economic assessment was carried out for both states post 2008 event, and the findings showed that The Falls in Victoria creates a significant economic impact of $27.2 million and reported that the 2008 event injected $22.5million into the Tasmanian. The Falls Festival benefits the local economies through direct expenditure by the event, indirect expenditure associated with the event, employment as well as tourism and music industry stimulation.”

Tourism Tasmania, who sponsors the Marion Bay event, promotes the Falls Festival by offering free tickets, car hire, and free accommodation for interstate tourists through a competition asking participants to take photos of Marion Bay. Photos of the winners picture are published on the official Falls Festival site including a feature article about the experience. The chance to win these offers attracts more tourists from local and interstate, benefiting the festival and tourism industry of Tasmania.


For more information on tourism in Tasmania, check out www.discovertasmania.com

For more information on what to do, where to go and where to stay in Lorne, Victoria, check out these websites:

www.greatsoutherntouring.com.au 


www.visitvictoria.com.au 


www.greatoceanrd.org.au 


www.lornelink.com.au 


www.visitsurfcoast.com http://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/tourismfact.htm

The Falls Festival website has some great information on where to go and what to see if you feel like exploring before or after the festival itself. Both Lorne and Marion Bay are idyllic locations, boasting great natural beauty, as well as many hidden treasures, which can be researched through the sites above.

Environment and Sustainability

“The festivals uphold the belief that sustainability refers to the capacity to endure – essentially that the needs of the present can be met whilst not compromising the ability of future generations to meet needs of their own”

The Falls Festival coordinators strive to minimise any negative impact on the environment from holding the festival over the New Year. It is recognized that any festival or event can produce quite large numbers of waste and pollution as well as leaving a mark on the land where it takes place.

To reduce the carbon footprint, they have in place many procedures that prevent possible negative effects on the environment. These include waste and recycle bins throughout the site in easily accessible areas, the plates and cutlery provided at food stalls are all biodegradable, and the toilets use pine bark instead of water where the waste can then be used as fertiliser.  Certain measures are taken to ensure the environment is sustained and managed so that the festival can continue to run over the years without leaving a mark on the beautiful natural environments where the festivals are located. A vast amount of time and effort is dedicated from the clean up crew and event staff to ensure the grounds are left in good condition.

A particular procedure to note is that of the stallholders, especially the ones selling food and beverage. The Falls Festival coordinators have implemented a checklist that a caterer (or any store holder) must comply with before they are given the green light to be a part of the festival.

As a new initiative this year, the ‘Falls Green Trader Award’ will be judged during the event, with the winning market stall or caterer promoted during the event on the Super screens on the main stages. This initiative aims to motivate festival traders to go the extra mile to becoming more environmentally friendly.

Unfortunately, there are always going to be negative impacts for accommodating such large numbers of people. Even though there are rules about how to behave and what you can and cannot bring into the festival some people still manage to break the rules.

Potential risk to the environment is controlled by restricting what can be taken into the site, such as:

• ·      No BYO alcohol - antisocial behaviour can cause harm to other people and potentially lead to destructive behaviour that may have an impact on the surroundings.
• ·      No glass – as well as risk to the patrons of the event, the local sheep may injure themselves during the rest of the year that they inhabit the paddocks.
• ·      Nothing flammable that can start a fire, this poses risk upon the surrounding bush especially in the dry summer.       

The Falls Festival has many keeping Green initiatives in place, the most prominent one being the Green Team. The ‘Green Team’ is employed at each of the festivals, managing all the waste programs, including collection and sorting pre, during and post event.

Compost toilets are used through out the event site. These toilets were chosen because of the process they use to eliminate waste. They are flush free, water free and chemical free. By treating and composting solid waste on site, there is no need for transporting and dealing with it in a treatment plant and so it doesn’t get pumped out into our ocean. No energy is required and the end product produces high-grade fertilizer and can be applied to improve soil conditions.

Another initiative being introduced this year is Offset Au Go Go, which aims to offset carbon emissions 

caused by travel by patrons to the event. In the past, the festivals have offset carbon emissions associated with all vehicle hire for use on site and international artist transfers as well as all artist/VIP accommodation and air travel provided by the festivals.

Based on travel data gathered from last year’s festivals, Climate Friendly have calculated the average emissions for each festival patron to travel to the festival is 145kg.  You can offset this average amount by contributing an additional $3.50 per ticket.  This amount will go towards accredited carbon credits from renewable energy projects through Climate Friendly. 

The Falls Festival continues to work hard at helping the environment and is now recognizable as one of the most eco-friendly festivals in Australia.

Event Background and History

The Falls Festival was created back in 1993 in Lorne, a coastal surf town along The Great Ocean Road in Victoria. The man behind festival was Simon Daly, who had the idea of creating something above and beyond his usual New Years Eve party which normally included family and friends. His idea was to turn his New Years celebration into something the whole community could be apart of and enjoy.

At that time, the Falls Festival (then named Rock Above the Falls in an attempt to steer wayward travelers away from the turnoff to a popular nearby waterfall) was a one-night only affair and featured just 9 bands.

With an expected crowd of around the 5,000, and at only $20 a ticket, the Daly family were shocked to find they had close to 11,000 new friends show up on the day. Quick thinking saw near by neighbours allowing their land to be used to hold the large numbers. Just after its first year, the Falls Festival was coined a success by organisers and participants alike.

The 1993 festival set solid foundation for the years to come. Word spread quickly on what a success this festival had become. International bands were added to the line-ups, as well as the more sought after Australian acts.

1995 and 1996 saw massive growth. The small family farm in Lorne could not hold the number of people expecting to show up and join in the festivities, and with tickets selling out in record time, they were eventually granted permission from the Lorne City Council to increase the maximum capacity by an extra 2000 people, not surprisingly, after tourism in the area skyrocketed as a direct result of the festival.

The hype of the new millennium promised to be a big one for the Falls Festival in 1999, however, treacherous weather conditions forced the event organisers to move the festival to Torquay, where a similar festival was held. This dramatic change did not deter festival go-ers, in fact, the new grounds allowed for an extra 500 people.

In 2001 event organisers had to deal with international acts pulling out due to fears of terrorism to Australia as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that happened in the US.  It was the perfect opportunity to showcase more home grown music, and like the years that preceded it, tickets were again sold out in only a few days.  

With the event coming close to its tenth year, event organisers wanted to give the festival a fast lift. In keeping with current trends, organisers introduced the chill out cinema and comedians to broaden the atmosphere of the event, as well as adding a massive TV screen beside the main stage so people could relax anywhere within the main amphitheatre and still feel like they were involved.

Just like any business, when growth is rapid, expansion can usually help ease the demand. 2003 saw the introduction of the Falls Festival to the picturesque town of Marion Bay, Tasmania. This event was to run at the same time as the event in Lorne, with bands playing on alternate nights at both festivals. Having the festivals run together it would allow organisers to entice even bigger acts to come out to Australia. 

The Marion Bay event would almost sell out in the first year and continue to improve over the next three years. Back in Lorne, recycling was becoming a bigger issue for the organisers, which will be further explained later.

2006-2007 saw the Village Arts Extravaganza launched to add to the already growing arts and craft stalls that were established at the festival.  With Fabulous Friday (introduced in 2005-06) for festival attendees to see some of the band’s in a special sneak preview show on the Friday before the event started and the comedian tent and cinema was still growing as well. Another big step for the Festival was the launch of the new website for the July 2006. People were able to subscribe to the official mailing list and be entered into the draw to be offered tickets ahead of the official release date of August 16.

In 2009, Daley launched another bright idea called the Falls Funk’n’Soul Revue. On October 7, 2009 the Falls Festival announced that for the first time they would be putting on a pre-festival party and extending the Falls Funk’n’Soul Revue to Lorne on the 28th December. The extension of the revue makes the Lorne festival a 4-day event stretching from 28 December through to the 1st January. The Funk’n’Soul Revue will occur over two days across the respective states, on the 28th in Lorne and on the 29th in Marion Bay with slightly differing lineups across the two locations.

Year after year, the festival has proved to be a massive success. It continues to have enormous growth and we expect to see much more in the coming years.