Visitors to the Southern Highlands are spending a penny in more ways than one.
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Some are coming just to check out the dunny with free Wi-Fi, flowers and an audio welcome at the Southern Highlands Welcome Centre in Mittagong.
The much loved public toilets, at what was previously known as the Mittagong Visitor Information Centre in Main Street are so popular they got the drop on the competition and officially wiped the floor at the 2017 International Toilet Tourism Awards.
Following extensive research around the globe done by MyTravelResearch.com founders Carolyn Childs and Bronwyn White with the help of avid world traveler Dick Teaken the loo at the visitor centre won the International Toilet Tourism Award for Best Economic Contributor.
They had plenty to go on in deciding the winners and tourism manager Steve Rosa said it was a reward for not only his team but the region.
Mr Rosa said the public toilets were refurbished in late 2015 during a makeover of the whole Southern Highlands Visitor Centre.
He said the team decided to make the small investment to create something that would stand out.
And they certainly made an impression with flowers, posters, audio reel, quirky fact stickers and free Wi-Fi.
“The region is now becoming more profitable from people coming to spend a penny at our welcome centre,” he said.
“We revamped the centre and turned it into more of a destination hub. The number one reason people go to visitor information centres is to use the toilet. And we could see we were missing out on visitors into the centre and being able to influence them to spend more time in the region. So we revamped the toilets. We only spent just over $3000 and got some colourful paint and went all out.’
Mr Rosa there was sometimes even a red carpet and an official welcome to guests which has turned a few heads in the men’s toilet.
“We put an audio system into the toilets,” he said.
“It has a female voice. We have had a few visitors come in to the centre say there is a lady in the men’s toilet.”
The $3000 investment seems to have worked. More visitors than ever spending a penny in Mittagong where visitation to the information centre increased from 60,000 to 72,000 in the first year.
Local product sales at the welcome centre have also risen 19 per cent. Regional visitor expenditure has increased from $250 million to $261 million.
The number of jobs is up 9 per cent with visitor expenditure contribution to the region now sustaining 2500 jobs.
And the loos have helped achieve a customer satisfaction rating of 93 per cent.
Mr Rosa said it was a big result for a relatively small outlay and his team could take the credit.
“As part of our revamp we thought the poor old toilets are looking a bit sad after being there for 22 years. And we thought “what can we do”? We also put in new hand basins and air fresheners.”