A small group of business owners have been locked in a battle with council management for the past six months in an effort to shift the focus away from Tourism North East’s vision and onto their specific desire for a focus on history and heritage.

Tempers flared again at a meeting of the Indigo Economic Development and Tourism Advisory Committee in Yackandandah on Friday.

Foxgloves Bed and Breakfast owner Sheila Rademan said the council should spend less money on staff and more on tourism.

Tourism and community services manager Clayton Neil said he welcomed the debate because it was the right time to “transition” to a new way of promotion.

“When we mapped out all our marketing activity for this year, there was so much more we wanted to do, but with resources it didn’t work out,” he said.

“Our focus is on how we get people here.”

Mr Neil said there had been a decrease in number of events held in the shire, but it had started to change.

Committee chairman Kevin Mayhew said the Chiltern Tourism Association annual general meeting in July showed a shift towards online promotion.

“Our print costs for the last financial year are down over 33 per cent, so we’re moving away from printed material and putting more material online,” he said.

Mrs Rademan said there was no replacement for the physical brochure for visitors.

Beechworth’s Geoff Palmer said the town received less benefits than the other eight shires involved in Tourism North East’s campaign, which appreciated the cycling focus.

He said the council should not have to pay the same amount for the campaign as municipalities with larger populations.

“If it was done on a  rates basis, let’s see how Wangaratta would like to pay $90,000 instead of $30,000 (to Tourism North East),” Mr Palmer said.

“We’ve been duped.”

Indigo’s visitor information centre report will be presented at the August council meeting.