Spread the love

The NSW Government’s regional conferencing strategy is paying huge dividends, driving more business events and visitors to rural and regional NSW than ever before, Minister for Tourism and Major Events Adam Marshall announced today.http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html

Since the inception of the strategy in August 2017, Mr Marshall said the government had invested around $1 million, securing more than 60 business events for rural and regional NSW.

“We’ve welcomed almost 17,000 delegates for these events to communities like Armidale, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Bungendore, Cowra, Dorrigo, Dubbo and more,” Mr Marshall said.

“These conferences run anywhere from two days to a week so they’re a smart way to drive business visitors to rural and regional destinations and fill up hotels.

“That means more dollars being spent in local communities, people eating out at restaurants, keeping local people in local jobs and driving the local economy.

“Our investment in this sector is so important because we know that overnight business visitors spend, on average, $237 per night in NSW – nearly double those of overnight leisure visitors. They are also more likely to return for a future holiday with family or friends.”

Mr Marshall said that due to an overwhelming response from industry, the government had opened a new grants program to support regional business events.

“We have opened a $500,000 NSW Regional Business Event Development Fund to drive even more business event visitors into rural and regional NSW, turbocharging local economies and creating jobs,” Mr Marshall said.

“From the bush to the coast, we want everyone to know that NSW offers delegates both a great opportunity to do business, and the chance to explore our fantastic tourism offerings.

“I encourage conference planners to apply now for this terrific funding opportunity.”

The conferencing industry is currently worth $173 million in overnight visitor expenditure to rural and regional NSW.