Bringing everyone back to the table to rebuild trust and relationships is key to revitalising Merimbula's business district says Nigel Ayling.
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Business and marketing consultant Mr Ayling is putting his hat in the ring for president of the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce when it meets for its AGM on Thursday night.
However, he acknowledged the town has a long hard slog ahead of it to work its way out of the current "crisis".
"I called it a crisis at the AGM last year when we had about 18-20 empty shops. Now it's up to about 30," he told the Merimbula News Weekly this week.
"The reality is over the last three years the town centre has died, the heart and soul has fallen out of it."
Mr Ayling said there were "a whole host of reasons" for that, including commercial rents, the online economy and what he said was a division in the chamber and business community.
He also said the reliance on the tourist economy, for so long Merimbula's focus and economic go-to, needed to be rethought.
"It's an interesting discussion that people get caught up in that our business community and tourism are joined at the hip," he said.
"Tourism has fared rather well in getting people here, but the visitor experience for people in Merimbula at the moment is not very good.
"The business community needs to be strong in its own right. Then when it's strong and robust, it also makes for a good experience for our visitors.
"When things are good you can afford to sit on your hands and wait for people to come to you. We're definitely not in that good space at the moment."
He said while there may be a whole range of ways to address Merimbula's retail issues, it will not a simple process.
"I make no bones about it, this will be an uphill battle. We probably have two or three years of hard work ahead of us.
"We can't sit by and just talk 'Jazz Festival'...we need fresh ideas, we need to reboot the main street."
Mr Ayling said there needed to be a closer look at the "macro issues" across the Valley not just the micro issues of Merimbula's CBD.
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"We need to closely talk to and work with council about economic development of the shire to attract more people to the area," he said.
"We've hung our hat on tourism for a long time, but we'd be better off having 3000 more people living and working here than 3000 more people visiting during a particular season.
"It's not just getting everyone in the same room, but rebuilding relationships that's really important.
"A divided community can't be effective."