Wollongong needs more business events and better attractions and activities if it wants to help turn around the poor performance of the regional NSW accommodation sector.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That’s the message from Destination Wollongong manager Mark Sleigh, in the wake of a new report from Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA), which found the accommodation sector in regional NSW was ‘‘performing poorly’’.
The report said this meant the NSW government’s goal of reaching $36.6 billion worth of overnight expenditure by 2020 was at ‘‘considerable risk’’ and made several recommendations to help regions in NSW to increase overnight stays.
These included increasing access, attractions and other reasons to visit through a destination management plan and increasing the focus on business events to fill hotel rooms mid-week.
Mr Sleigh said Wollongong was ‘‘perfectly placed’’ to boost its share of the overnight accommodation market and help the government meet its 2020 target as it had already completed a destination management plan.
‘‘We now need to get out there and make these things happen.’’
The plan, released last month, recommended $378 million worth of new tourism projects including bungee jumping at Bulli Tops, a massive Darling Harbour-style wharf in Warrawong, a new marina and ferry at Belmore Basin and a ‘‘Sky Bridge’’ over Mount Ousley Road.
Mr Sleigh said Destination Wollongong was also looking at ways to attract more mid-week business events to town.
He said the Novotel’s renovations, which started last week, would attract small business events, but said a major convention centre – such as the one proposed for the WIN Entertainment Centre – was necessary for bigger events.
‘‘We have people coming to town, they love Wollongong and they love the connectivity to Sydney because it’s a very cheap alternative for them but until we have a place to hold 500 to 1000 people we won’t be able to attract those events.’’
The TAA report also showed Wollongong’s hotel occupancy rate has dropped by fiveper cent in the past 10 years, with Mr Sleigh saying the region’s changing supply of hotels was most likely to blame.
‘‘The supply has definitely changed a lot in that time, we’ve brought a lot of hotels into the market and lost a couple [such as the Ibis and Rydges], and now we’re probably around about the right level.’’
He said the Headlands Hotel development would address the under-supply of accommodation in the northern suburbs.
‘‘That resort is going to be a different product to what we have in Wollongong at the moment and it’s in the right location.