A bumper holiday season is expected this summer with 2011 figures showing an increase to visitation to the Greater Port Macquarie region, injecting more than $473 million to the local economy.
Tourism and Events Manager Linda Hall said visitors had stayed a combined 2.6 million nights in the area and this represented an increase of 4.5 per cent on the same time last year.
“Based on the fantastic domestic tourism results that Great Port Macquarie has achieved again this year, we are hopeful of another strong season,” Ms Hall said.
In conjunction with the Christmas period, Greater Port Macquarie launched a 52+ Things To Do campaign to the Sydney and regional NSW market which has seen more than 10,000 pocket-sized information booklets distributed.
“We want to ensure Great Port Macquarie stays top of mind for potential holiday makers in the lead up to Christmas,” Ms Hall said.
“It’s an important campaign for our region in the lead up to the peak holiday period because it not only provides a point of difference but the booklets encourage visitors to spend more locally.”
Council is committed to further developing and leveraging its own destination brand, and this has seen newly formed strategic partnerships with established brands Virgin Australia and Wotif.com secured this year.
“Greater Port Macquarie Tourism integrated Wotif.com’s online technology into the Port Macquarie’s tourism destination website to streamline the booking process and create marketing opportunities,” Ms Hall said.
“Through two major retail campaigns in 2011 in partnership with Wotif.com we have generated an estimated $1.70 million for the local tourism industry.”
Ms Hall said direct flights to Port Macquarie from Sydney and Brisbane with Virgin Australia and a targeted radio and online campaign would also facilitate the recording of strong tourism results for the region in the year to come.
