Newcastle Airport wants a united front for tourism across the Hunter Region – and it has pledged to put up cash and resources to kick start the initiative.
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The airport board will send letters to organisations with a stake in local tourism this week, inviting them to join a new partnership to promote Port Stephens and the Hunter – from Newcastle, right up the valley – to markets in New Zealand, Asia, the South Pacific, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The coalition would use the $50,000 joining contribution from each member to develop a holistic tourism identity to promote the region, in an effort to boost overnight visitor numbers. They hope to get 20 members on board as a starting point.
Airport chairman Peter Gesling said the move was about taking the future of tourism in the Hunter back into the community’s hands.
While Mr Gesling wouldn’t say on Thursday exactly who he was approaching, he told Fairfax Media he was looking for members in the fields of health, education and businesses who engaged in the broader visitor economy, as well as the obvious tourism players.
“My board has the strong feeling that the region is not doing itself any favours by not presenting a cohesive picture to the wider tourism sector,” he said.
“We don’t just want day trippers – we want people to come and have overnight stays and use multiple parts of the region.
“There’s a whole lot of people in our sector that are striving to get this greater focus but there is no campaign out there that’s marketing the region as a whole.
“So we’re saying we’ll put our hand up and try to facilitate that conversation, put some resources in ourselves – both cash and in-kind resources.”
Newcastle Airport CEO Dr Peter Cock said he envisaged overnight visitors from elsewhere in NSW would also be targeted in the campaign.
“It’s not just about people flying in, people coming up from Sydney and regional NSW are very important,” he said.
“It’s not an airport thing – it’s a regional thing and we [Newcastle Airport] don’t have to benefit from every part of it.”
Mr Gesling said the Hunter was Australia’s largest regional economy – but it wasn’t promoting its strengths in a “cohesive, whole of region manner”.
“Working together, with one vision in mind, has the potential to create great opportunity for our businesses and our community,” he said.
“As leaders of businesses in this region that actively participate in the visitor economy, I am calling for us to join forces to establish and financially support a broad reaching, cohesive and collaborative destination campaign.”
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