As we wrap up 2025, we hope the festive season has been a successful one for you and that you’ve found a little time to celebrate your achievements, relax, and recharge before the busy summer months ahead. Here’s to putting your feet up and getting ready for an amazing 2026!
In this month's newsletter, we've included some great tips to help your business prepare for the upcoming peak period. But before we officially move past the holidays, we’d love your feedback on Christmas in the City—please take a quick moment to complete our Christmas stakeholder survey (link included further below).
2025 recap and reflections
Looking back on 2025, it’s been an incredible year! Together, we’ve worked closely with CBD businesses, welcomed over 20 new businesses, celebrated our Launnie Long-standers and launched exciting campaigns like Slice-a-licious, Super Sale Saturday, and North by Night. We celebrated wins such as the Mainstreet Award for The Lounge, and brought festive cheer with Light Up Launnie, Love Local Festive Fun Day, Santa’s Mailbox, and Find Santa's Reindeer scavenger hunt. Plus, we moved our corporate office to the Quadrant Mall!
A heartfelt thank you to all the incredible teams at the City of Launceston. It’s been such a privilege to work side by side with you to champion Launceston’s CBD identity. Together, we’ve collaborated on inspiring council-led initiatives that have brought vibrancy and life to our CBD.
We also want to raise a big cheer for our old roomies Launceston Chamber of Commerce, NTDC, and Visit Northern Tasmania. Your unwavering support and willingness to work together have made a real difference. And to all our other stakeholders, thank you for the spirit of collaboration and shared commitment—it’s been an absolute pleasure partnering with you. Here’s to continuing this journey of supporting each other, sharing ideas, and creating even greater things together in the year ahead!
Launceston Central's board and team photographed together on Strategy Day.
Earlier this month, our Launceston Central board and team came together for a Strategy Day to refine our vision and goals for 2026. Special thanks Taihlaura, Mon, Will, Steven, Amanda, Abbey and Lisa for your dedication. Thanks, Briony, Brea, and Georgia for all your assistance. And to my incredible team—Jade, Megan, Charlotte, and Michelle—thank you for your hard work, adaptability, and professionalism. You make every day a pleasure.
Here’s to a bright and successful year ahead for us all!
Gab Dicarlantonio
Executive Officer
gab@launcestoncentral.com.au
Your new year to-do list: how to prepare for the busy season
See below for expected visitation numbers, PLUS practical tips for how to prepare for the influx of visitors
January and February will see a dramatic increase in visitation to the city:
24 January | Foo Fighters will bring 24,000 attendees (5,000 interstate) into Launceston with expected increased visitation days prior and preceding the event.
30 Jan - 1 Feb | Festivale brings around 29,000 into the city over the weekend.
5-8 February | Party in the Paddock sees approximately 13,000 arrive in neighbouring Quercus Park (2025 stats - 3,000 interstate and 8,000 Tasmanians from outside Launceston).
With the huge influx in visitors to the city, its more important than ever to make sure your business is communicating effectively to maximise the benefit to the city, and secure repeat visitation.
TOP TIPS TO GET YOUR BUSINESS READY
Update your Google and ATDW listings. If you don't have these, sign up: both are free! Include up to date opening and closing hours over summer. Not updating hours can lead to reputation damage for your business as customers are quick to provide negative reviews when businesses are unexpectedly closed.
Update your website and social media channels with fresh content. Visitors will do research on Launceston and local businesses before they arrive.
Engage audiences on social media. Tag the event and highlight your offerings to attendees in the lead-up and during the events.
Showcase Launceston and Tasmania. Visitors love to sample the region and take a bit of it home with them. Promote your local produce, crafts, or souvenirs.
Encourage reviews of your business to capitalise on the increased volume of customers.
Consider longer opening hours over key dates. Businesses (in particular food and drink) are likely to be stretched to capacity. Consider making the most of this opportunity by increasing and promoting your hours.
Offering a unique themed menu item or special? Tell us! Whether you have a Foo-themed dish or special offer for concertgoers, we'll help promote it.
Adjust your menu to enable quicker turnarounds. This may include offering more pre-packaged and grab-and-go options.
Consider staffing levels and short service training. Are you staff prepared for fast service? Are your processes streamlined?
Consider your stock levels and lack of supply over the public holiday. Do you have enough to make the most of the increased visitation?
Want to be highly prepared for Foo Fighters? RSVP for Industry Briefing Day hosted by Visit Northern Tas
8 January 4.00-5.00pm | Tramsheds (4 Invermay Rd)
The Foo Fighters coming to Launceston is a major concert event and this will bring a significant increase in visitation, traffic of all descriptions and demand across the city.
This industry briefing is designed to support tourism and hospitality businesses by providing insights into what to expect and how best to prepare. The session will cover anticipated visitation impacts, timing and movement of visitors, and practical considerations for staffing, operations and customer experience.
Visit Northern Tasmania (VNT), alongside key stakeholders, will share information and be available to answer questions, provide guidance and discuss opportunities for local businesses to leverage increased visitation into positive commercial outcomes. The session will focus on collaboration, clear communication and practical preparation, with the shared goal of ensuring a smooth and enjoyable experience for visitors and strong outcomes for Launceston businesses. This briefing is an opportunity to:
Understand expected visitor volumes and city impacts
Plan staffing, opening hours and service delivery
Ask questions directly to organisers and stakeholders
Identify opportunities to capture increased spend and visibility
Work collaboratively to deliver a positive visitor experience for the city
This free session is relevant for accommodation providers, hospitality venues, retailers, transport operators and other visitor-facing businesses.
This free session is relevant for accommodation providers, hospitality venues, retailers, transport operators and other visitor-facing businesses. Light refreshments will be served. See the link below to register today.
The holiday season may be over, but we need your vital feedback on the recent Christmas campaign
Our Christmas campaign survey for stakeholders is now open! From events hosted by City of Launceston to activations run by Launceston Central, we want to hear what had the biggest impact on your business.
Your feedback will be shared with council, and results will directly shape how Launceston Central approach marketing local businesses during the 2026 holiday season. See the link below to share your feedback.
Tesla seeks private partner for Launceston charging station
Be a destination for eco-friendly consumers
If you are a business and landowner within the CBD, Tesla is seeking a local partner to host a charging station within the city centre. Tesla will cover infrastructure, installation, and maintenance costs. Additional criteria for this opportunity, as well as contact details for Tesla's local project developer, are outlined in the brief linked below.
