Record numbers of visitors to the region and a thriving tourism economy in five years would show Destination Country and Outback NSW (DNCO) has been successful, its chairman has said.
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DNCO has released its destination management plan, a document designed to improve tourism to the region over the next three years and give tourism operators extra information and assistance.
The organisation was established in January 2017 as part of the Destination NSW network. It replaced the former regional tourism organisations, including Inland NSW after they ran into financial trouble.
DNCO chairman Stephen Bartlett said he hoped some impacts of the DNCO’s management plan would be felt almost immediately but said the longer term was just as important, and said that tourism growth would be the biggest indicator of success.
“Through Destination NSW we’ve got an ability to record an increase in numbers so if numbers are up, people are smiling, and the visitor economy has grown, we’ve got a success,” he said.
“But it’s not about us, it about the tourism operators and stakeholders and what we want them to achieve.”
Mr Bartlett, a former organiser of the Country Music Festival at Tamworth, said one of the goals was to draw people to the region’s towns all year round, not just when events were on.
He said there was scope to increase attendance at fledgling events, if organisers were interested, by drawing on experience from promoters from bigger events.
“[The plan] talks about smaller towns and villages. Somewhere like Trundle that already has an event but how we can enhance and grow that,” the chairman said.
“It’s not about telling people what to do, but we are here to assist. We’re an advocate and a medium between the stakeholder and the [Tourism] Minister and the state government.”
Mr Bartlett said the management plan was designed to give guidance for all operators in the region and give them advice on how to apply for tourism grants and funding.
“With such a raft of stakeholders in the tourism sector, before we had anything in writing we went to 11 different destinations across the 61.2 per cent of the state we are responsible for,” he said.
“Obviously we got a great deal of input and built the plan at that stage, then we went back to a number of those locations plus three more with a solid plan and it’s fair to say the plan is much better because of that second round of stakeholder engagement.
“For anybody contemplating growing their tourism activity, the plan is essential reading because you can target greater numbers of people.”
