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- 2 March 2005
Mid North Coast Tourism
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Page: 14485
Mr ROBERT OAKESHOTT (Port Macquarie) [1.24 p.m.]: Today I want to talk about tourism and tourism strategies on the mid North Coast, a subject that has been and always will be a hot topic in our region. When tourism figures around the country are generally down, this hot topic becomes even hotter amongst those with an interest in the tourism industry and those who are involved in planning tourism strategies. There are many positive stories in our local area. I want to outline some of those positives as we lead into 2005.
Only this morning I had a productive meeting with the Minister for Tourism and Sport and Recreation, Sandra Nori, and the head of Tourism New South Wales, John O'Neill, about one of the key strategies for the mid North Coast and North Coast, that is, the need to continue to work on marrying State and local strategies to get better outcomes. I am pleased that the North Coast Regional Tourism Organisation [RTO] has released its three-year tourism plan. The North Coast RTO was established in July 2001, following the amalgamation of the Holiday Coast RTO, the Mid North Coast RTO and the RTO from the Port Stephens area. Prior to July 2001 the Mid North Coast RTO and the Holiday Coast RTO together were responsible for the region recognised as Australia's holiday coast. The new North Coast RTO region comprises eight local government areas: Port Stephens, Great Lakes, Greater Taree, Hastings, Kempsey, Nambucca, Bellingen and Coffs Harbour. Obviously, this region of 420 kilometres of New South Wales coastline has a valuable commodity to sell.
Tourism is one of the principal industry sectors in our area. For the year ended December 2002 the region attracted approximately 5,100,000 visitors, which is about 6 per cent of the State's visitation, comprising 2.9 million domestic tourists, 126,000 international tourists and more than two million day trippers from outside the region. Domestic tourism accounts for the lion's share—96 per cent—of overnight visitation to the region, with international tourism comprising the remaining 4 per cent, which is far lower than the State average of 9 per cent. The regional tourism plan puts in place a basic principle. In the past individual local tourism plans have emanated from local government areas. It is well and truly time to take a unified approach to a broader strategy of trying to sell both the mid North Coast and North Coast regions so that all our areas get better bang for our buck.
I want to highlight some important aspects of the regional tourism plan. The plan recognises the changing paradigms of tourism and the changing needs in tourism planning. One change, in particular, is the need to consider infrastructure planning—such as transport and service infrastructure, training and investment incentives, and general local planning at a local level—as part of tourism planning. Local infrastructure planning at a local level has a significant part to play in tourism planning. I refer to the old cliché: If you build it they will come. The North Coast has undergone significant population growth in a relatively short period. It is our greatest challenge to satisfy a range of infrastructure needs in a relatively short time frame. That is no different in a tourism sense to any other sector.
Another point I want to make is that whilst the State has been good at delivering for the North Coast RTO with funding of $1 million in the past five years—more funding than for any other RTO in the State—there are further opportunities for the State to contribute to the RTO through the grants process. I also highlight the fact that we have not been able to get one single dollar out of the Federal bodies and grants programs. That is disappointing, particularly when one bears in mind the assistance given to our northern neighbours in the Northern Rivers RTO through the Australian Tourism Development Program. We have been unsuccessful in our applications for grants. I hope the Federal members of Parliament in our region realise that we need assistance, and it is to be hoped that we will be granted some of that much-needed funding to contribute to our tourism strategy in the new round of funding coming out shortly through the Australian Tourism Development Program.
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