Central Coast tourism boom with visitor numbers up

Good weather, an Australian dollar at a 10-year low and a new branding campaign is paying dividends for the Central Coast with operators experiencing a tourism bonanza.

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Good weather, an Australian dollar at a 10-year low and a new branding campaign is paying dividends for the Central Coast with operators experiencing a tourism bonanza.

Tourism Research Australia survey data for the year ending September shows overseas and domestic visitor numbers are up on last year.

Member of the Legislative Council Taylor Martin said the results were good news for the Coast.

Beaches have been packed on the Coast this year. (AAP Image / Mark Scott)

“Our beautiful region welcomed 1.5 million domestic tourists and 65,700 international travellers which is wonderful news for our local industry,” Mr Martin said.

“The number of domestic visitors to the Central Coast grew by 5.8 per cent compared to the previous year, and they spent $521 million during their stay, while international visitor numbers grew by a whopping 18.9 per cent.

“This means more heads on hotel beds, people in our restaurants, cafes, pubs and shops, spending money and driving our local visitor economy.

The low Australian dollar has more people holidaying domestically. (AAP Image / Mark Scott)

The Australian dollar hit a 10-year low last week at 67.15 US cents and Central Coast Tourism spokesman Russell Mills said the exchange rate was inspiring more Australians to travel domestically and particularly to coastal locations.

He said this also coincided with a “renaissance” in caravan park and camping holidays.

“Good weather always helps,” he said.

Central Coast Tourism launched its “Have a Little Adventure” branding campaign in July with television and social media advertising running to November.

Mr Mills said 82 per cent of 500 Sydneysiders surveyed said the campaign would make them more likely to visit the Coast.

Central Coast Tourism's Have a Little Adventure branding. Picture: supplied

He said the newly branded website had recorded 12 times the number of click-throughs to local operators than the Coast’s previous tourism website.

For the first time the website provides a range of easy-to-follow itineraries for visitors based on their demographic, such as families or couples with no children, and the types of holiday they’re looking for such as adventure, relaxation and food.

“We just tried to remind Sydneysiders of exactly what was on the Coast … promoting the region as a whole,” he said.

He said anecdotally operators such as Terrigal’s Star of the Sea was reporting a 10 per cent increase in business over last year, Mantra at Ettalong had been fully booked for most of the Christmas period and Mr Goaty Gelato was having its best ever season.