Published on Dec 14, 2021

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The NSW Government has announced changes to the state’s Destination Networks to grow the regional visitor economy.

The NSW Government is committed to growing the visitor economy of regional NSW with the right framework in place to support visitor growth, job creation, skills development and stakeholder engagement.

The changes will give the Networks a stronger and more sustainable framework to support growth targets and focus on ensuring regional NSW comes back bigger and stronger.  The visitor economy is a critical industry for many regional NSW communities and growing visitation plays a key role in the state’s COVID-19 recovery.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the regional visitor economy contributed $22.5 billion in tourism consumption and supported 99,600 direct jobs, over half the state’s visitor economy workforce.

Destination Networks play a key role in delivering our NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2030, including the target of $25 billion in regional overnight visitor expenditure by 2030.

The changes to Destination Network borders will take effect from 1 July 2022 and include:

  • A new Destination Network for Central West NSW to increase resources for well-established visitor destinations, including Bathurst, Orange and Mudgee
  • The relocation of Snowy Valley Local Government Area from Destination Riverina Murray to Destination Southern NSW
  • Aligning Destination Sydney Surrounds North and Destination Sydney Surrounds South boundaries with Western Parkland City

The NSW Government established the original six Destination Networks in 2016 following a review of regional tourism to improve regional stakeholder engagement and better support the regional NSW visitor economy.

The Destination Networks are the ‘shopfront’ for Destination NSW in regional NSW and work closely with local government, tourism organisations and operators.

Destination NSW will work with visitor economy stakeholders in each region to implement the changes.

For further information, visit: Destination Networks – Destination NSW