🏛️ Council

Visitor information centre will move to Murray Bridge Library

The tourism centre will share a space beneath Murray Bridge Marketplace in a move the council says is aimed at increasing its visibility.

Murray Bridge's visitor information centre will be co-located with Murray Bridge Library from this August, Wayne Thorley says. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

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Murray Bridge’s visitor information centre will move from its present location on South Terrace to a more prominent spot on East Terrace later this year.

From August, it will share the space currently occupied by the city’s library, beneath the Murray Bridge Marketplace shopping centre.

The Murray Bridge council announced the move on Wednesday, saying it would make the VIC more accessible and visible to tourists.

It would be better to have it overlook the riverfront, close to the Bridgeport Hotel, Mayor Wayne Thorley suggested.

“This move is about making it easier for visitors to find us, and access the information and services they need, in a location where they are already spending most of their visitation time,” he said.

“By bringing the visitor information centre into a popular space … we expect it to capture more of the traffic visiting the river, on the main route to and from Sturt Reserve.”

Visitation to the existing centre had been declining over the past three years, he said.

Two staff, plus the centre’s volunteers, will be relocated as part of the move.

Facilities at the library will have to be rearranged to enable it.

The visitor centre is likely to occupy the corner of the library closest to the road, and to have an information desk separate to the library desk.

Car parking zones outside the library will be modified, too, enabling visitors with caravans to park on East Terrace.

The council plans to keep both facilities operating throughout the change, with no interruption to service at either site.

Staff and volunteers at both sites were notified on Wednesday.

Plans for a new visitor information centre and cafe at the wharf were prominent in strategies for Murray Bridge's riverfront in the 2010s. Image: Rural City of Murray Bridge.

Move had been on the cards for a decade

The council had seriously considered moving the visitor centre for years.

A 2016 plan for Murray Bridge’s riverfront envisioned a tourism and history precinct centred on the wharf, with a new VIC as its centrepiece.

That vision persisted in 2019, when the council launched its “make it yours” destination branding with a colourful concept video.

But Mr Thorley said that idea was now on the back burner.

Building a new centre would be quite expensive, and the council had higher priorities “at this stage”.

“To connect something down there, we’d have to go through a pretty deep planning program and try to understand what benefits would be gained,” he said.

“It doesn’t mean we won’t do it, it just means not at this point in time.”

The current VIC is tucked away on South Terrace, near a bus stop. Photo: Murray Bridge Visitor Information Centre/Facebook.

What will happen with the existing visitor centre?

Asked about plans for the current visitor centre space, the mayor said it would become an extension of the council’s office.

That didn’t mean the council was hiring more staff.

But there would be an opportunity to re-organise departments which were currently split across multiple sites, including the local government centre, the Murraylands Skills Centre and the old town hall on Bridge Street.

“We will utilise what we have as efficiently as we possibly can,” Mr Thorley said.