Plan to push tourist spending beyond the city limits
The first regional tourism target will be set in a bold bid to spread the state’s $40-billion visitor economy beyond Sydney and into NSW’s regional areas.
Project Sydney
Don't miss out on the headlines from Project Sydney. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE first regional tourism target will be set in a bold bid to spread the state’s $40 billion visitor economy beyond Sydney.
Tourism Minister Adam Marshall said the statewide tourism target currently relied on Sydney to be the “heavy lifter” to get NSW to No.1.
“But it’s time to look beyond Sydney,” Mr Marshall said.
The state government is now working on establishing a firm target for the regions — separate from Sydney — so the whole state gets a fair share of tourist spending.
Mr Marshall said NSW cannot afford to be “complacent” when it comes to capitalising on the tourist dollar.
“The tourism sector in NSW has never been stronger … but there is still more work to be done in our rural and regional areas,” he said.
“While the visitor economy in Sydney is booming, rural and regional destinations need to build the depth of the visitor experience to stimulate long-term growth.”
In 2016/17 tourism contributed $40.5 billion to the state’s economy and employed 262,000 people.
The new plan leverages detailed work by Destination NSW to establish six key destination networks across the state, and identify their hidden gems and drawcards outside of Sydney.
The government plans to draw tourist to Sydney, then deliberately disperse them through the state guided by the six destination networks.
The work identifies key themes in each region, such as the top-notch food and wine in the hinterlands, as well as rivers and agricultural tourism in the Riverina Murray and arts and Aboriginal tourism on the north coast.
BEST OF ESCAPE
Lord Howe: Remote Aussie Island will blow your mind
Why you didn’t know about the Snowy Mountains
Byron Bay: On the radar for Aussie and international travellers
The six networks developed by Destination NSW are the Riverina Murray, Southern NSW (including the Snowy Mountains and Far South Coast), North Coast (from the mid-coast to Tweed Heads including Lord Howe Island), Country and Outback NSW, Sydney surrounds North (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and the Hunter) and Sydney surrounds South (including the Southern Highlands, Wollongong and Shoalhaven).
Some of the hidden gems being pushed by Destination NSW include the Albury cafe culture, sewing classes in Yass and the Margaret Olley Art Centre in the Tweed.
“We want international tourists flying into Sydney and heading out to rural and regional NSW, rather than flying to Melbourne or Brisbane,” Mr Marshall said.
“We want to keep tourist dollars in this state for as long as possible instead of letting them disappear elsewhere.”
The six destination networks have been designed by DNSW to empower the regions into building their own tourism plans.
“Decisions for rural and regional NSW are not going to made from a Sydney boardroom. We’ve got six Destination Networks now set up across the state who are constantly talking and working with local industry and stakeholders,” Mr Marshall said.
The six local networks are now finalising their own destination management plans, which will act as blueprints to manage the visitor economy in the regions.
The government has already allocated an extra $3 million to drive the regional plans, and has put aside $500,000 to be spent on media familiarisation tours to draw the world’s press to the regions.