More than one million domestic visitors spent at least one night in the Wollongong-Shellharbour-Kiama in the 12 months to March, figures from the National Visitor Survey have revealed.
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Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh said the figure was up by 10.5 per cent on the year ending March 2014.
"It is another fantastic result for the Illawarra region," Mr Sleigh said.
The survey showed many positives for domestic overnight travel.
Visitors spent almost three million nights in the area, which was an increase of 20.8 per cent on the previous 12 months.
And the amount of money they spent rose 31.4 per cent to $412 million.
Domestic day trips were also up by 1.4 per cent to 3.6 million with these visitors spending $353 million, representing a 16.8 per cent growth.
Ms Sleigh said the figures showed Wollongong and its neighbouring local government areas were outperforming other regions in the state and the area was "certainly punching above its weight".
Mr Sleigh said what the growth meant for business, jobs and economic growth for the region was very important.
He said the continuation of such figures would also help improve the perception of Wollongong as a destination at a national level.
“This is without doubt, the largest 12 months for the visitor economy of the Illawarra, and there is no reason why it should not continue,'' Mr Sleigh said.
''We have accommodation capacity, and we have access to the congested Sydney market and population. Capitalising on these two opportunities is critical to this growth. There is no business in Wollongong not genuinely affected by a growth in visitor numbers. It could be a newsagent, a petrol station, a jewelery, more people coming to the region are going to spend more money, in more businesses.''
Mr Sleigh said events were the core of Illawarra's regional visitation strategy.
''The “It’s ON in the Gong” Summer events campaign, delivered in partnership with Destination NSW has been another tremendous success in 2015,'' he said.
''Events not only give immediate economic benefit through visitation, they also provide a reason for a potential visitor to engage with the region for the first time. When visitors come to Wollongong, they are blown away with all that we have to offer, and are likely to return at a later date for leisure travel.''
But we cannot rest on our laurels, according to Mr Sleigh.
He said as Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama attracting more visitors we need to continue to grow the reasons for them to stay longer, and spend more money locally.
Some recent ideas for new tourism attractions
''We have tremendous natural assets, and with some sensible facilitation and investment, we are perfectly positioned to become an “adventure playground’ of Sydney, and grow our range of tourism attractions,'' Mr Sleigh said.
''This could be as simple as facilitating activity which is occurring anyway, such as mountain biking, or encouraging investors to come to town and spend money on building infrastructure, thus creating jobs. The food and accommodation sector is currently the fifth largest employer in the region, and a majority of these jobs are relatively unskilled, entry level positions perfectly suited to youth, a major unemployment problem for the Illawarra. We need to look at all opportunities to create employment in the region, and there is no doubt that the visitor economy can play a leading role in creating jobs locally for our kids.''
Its ON in Wollongong Program of Events
November 2014:
November 2: MS Sydney to Gong Ride
November 8: Viva La Gong
November 9: Four Nations Rugby League
November 14-15: Judo Continental Open
November 15: Port Kembla Billy Cart Derby
November 16: i98FM Camp Quality Convoy
November 16: Festival of Flight
December 2014:
December 13-14: Australian Beach Soccer Cup
December 13: Santa Claus Pub Crawl
December 13: Wollongong Hawks v Sydney Kings
December 16: Sydney Sixers Big Bash Trial
December 16: The Wiggles' Big Show
December 26: Sunset Cinema commences
January 2015:
January 15-18: Illawarra Folk Festival
January 26: Australia Day Festivities
January 26: Australia Day Aquathon
February 2015:
February 21-22: Australian Surf Rowers
February 23: Roxette
February 28: Kiama Rugby Sevens
March 2015:
March 6-8: Tri the Gong (Inc Australian Sprint Championships)
March 14-19: NSW Police Games
March 28-29: Splash and Dash