Tuesday, 31 October 2017
BOOSTING local cafes and restaurants, putting heads on beds, and injecting tourism dollars into the pockets of local businesspeople will be front of mind at a NSW tourism workshop in Bingara this Friday.
Minister for Tourism and Major Events and Member for the Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall has commissioned an independent Visitor Economy Taskforce in a bid to get more people out to the bush.
Mr Marshall said the review was an opportunity to re-engage with industry, local government, organisations, associations and other relevant stakeholders throughout the Northern Tablelands.
“This review is incredibly exciting for the Northern Tablelands and I encourage industry, local government and others to take the opportunity to contribute to this blue-sky approach that will work out the next frontier of tourism policy in NSW,” Mr Marshall said.
“Local knowledge will be critical to ensuring the Taskforce understand our region’s unique visitor experiences, products and issues, and will ultimately inform the outcomes of the Taskforce’s review into the Visitor Economy Industry Action Plan.”
Mr Marshall said the Taskforce would take a long-term look at the NSW visitor economy, consider opportunities for growth and additional methods to measure success into the future.
“NSW is the number one visitor destination in the country across every metric and now is the perfect time to look at what we can do to make our domination over the other states even greater,” Mr Marshall said.
“Tourism is big business and vital to the NSW economy, contributing $32.5 billion each year in revenue and directly employing more than 261,000 people throughout the State, and we need to ensure every corner of NSW reaps the benefits of this booming sector.
“Our newly established Destination Networks across the State will play a key role in working with the Taskforce to ensure stakeholders are consulted across rural and regional NSW.”
The NSW Government has delivered 92 per cent of the actions outlined in the initial Visitor Economy Industry Action Plan in 2012. The review will focus on any outstanding actions still to be delivered, with a particular attention on individual tourism sectors and rural and regional NSW. The Taskforce will report to Mr Marshall by 31 January 2018.
The Bingara workshop will be held at the Bingara RSL Club, 46 Finch Street, from noon to 2.30pm this Friday, 3 November.
Register for workshop at www.eventbrite.com.au/e/expression-of-interest-for-the-veiap-consultation-1-november-7-december-2017-tickets-39242679912 or complete the NSW Visitor Economy Survey online at www.research.net/r/NSW_Visitor_Economy