FESTIVALE could be enhanced if Recreation Day became part of the festival rather than a day off in the unknowns of early November.
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Recreation Day is a "me-tooism" holiday granted to Northern Tasmania to compensate for Hobart having a Regatta Day holiday. Recreation Day has no special significance in regard to its date of November 7.
The government is considering combining Regatta Day and Recreation Day to reduce the staggered public holidays on the calendar.
If Recreation Day is so portable, why not shift it to the Festivale weekend, so that either the Friday or Monday becomes a holiday and turns Festivale into more of a festival?
If the government wants to synchronise holidays, it could negotiate with the Hobart and Launceston councils for an agreement that benefits the Regatta/Hobart Cup carnival and Festivale. Maybe the holidays could stay a week apart to maximise statewide attendance at both ends of the state.
We can be strategic, with a theme running through the Taste, the two cups, Regatta Day and Festivale. There's no reason why the North-West can't be part of the festival theme - guiding tourists through a statewide showcase of our finest over summer.
Think of overseas and interstate tourists. Don't confine the thinking to the insular North-South divide. There is much we can do together to give visitors better bang for their bucks.
For its part, it would make sense for Festivale to be longer, for locals as well as visitors. A cursory look outside will tell you that this place is teeming with tourists, many from China, who are looking for events to enjoy and snap for the folks back home. You always see international tourists disgorging from buses near the Kings Bridge, to look at the Gorge, as if there's not much else.
We can do better, with enhanced events like Festivale. Shifting that loner November holiday to February is worth a look.