Plan to help bush towns tap into holiday cash

Latest National Visitor survey figures showed Australians are spending more and more tourist dollars in regional NSW, with guests staying 71 million nights and spending $10.2b across bush communities last year - a rise of 10 per cent.

This is on top of regional NSW growing its rate of international visitors, which was up by 11.5pc last year.

Of the 30 million total domestic visitors to NSW in 2016, 7 in 10 went bush.

Tourism Minister Adam Marshall says the stats were a testament to a supercharged regional strategy over the past six years - and the work to promote Sydney as not the be-all-and-end-all, but a gateway to the bush - both for locals and tourists from overseas.

“There’s that old saying which I believe in that says ‘tourism is everyone’s business’ - and in a rural and regional sense it is,” Mr Marshall said. 

“When international visitors first come here they tend to head to Sydney on their first trip... but where we start to see people moving out in a big way is when they come back for their second, third, fourth trips.

“And we’ve seen the smaller the town, the further that tourist spending spreads, especially beyond the restaurant, club, hotel or motel – that indirect spending.”

Mr Marshall said the visitors figures showed headway was being made following reforms last July to the Regional Tourism Organisation, which was replaced with a $43 million network of six destinations: Country And Outback, North Coast, Riverina Murray, Southern NSW, and Sydney and Surrounds North and South.

But he said there was a need to broaden the bush experience.

“The job is now sorting out the blockages to getting people out, not just to Albury, Wagga, Bathurst, Orange, Tamworth, Dubbo, and that’s something I want to focus on, as a minister and a regionally-based MP.”

Mr Marshall said addressing capacity and access to regional tourism sites was key to more visitors – with the $300 million Regional Growth – Environment and Tourism Fund going some way to helping businesses and councils get the ball rolling.

“You have to make it make it easier for people - you might have beautiful natural attraction but it might be difficult to get to, it might need access roads, amenities, accomodation, a new grandstand… there’s a lot of potential but it needs investment to help people get there or make it attractive.

“If we don’t work on building the capacity side we’re just sending people to the same attractions, we’re not opening up new areas and locations.”

“More and more people are visiting rural NSW – we know that – but if we don’t improve access, some communities are going to miss out.”

Mr Marshall also said an announcement could be expected on the promised regional conferencing unit by the end of the financial year.