When Sam and Cassie Cahill got married in March, instead of a honeymoon they started a new business.
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As with any new business, Par-Tee Virtual Golf at Albion Park Rail relied on getting the word out and Mark Sleigh at Destination Wollongong wasted no time helping promote it through his partner network.
Business has steadily grown from locals and visitors.
So much so, the Cahills are thinking about putting on more staff. There are few other centres like Par-Tee in the state and being near a bowling alley, indoor go-kart centre and a historical aircraft museum has also helped.
Virtual golfers include many people who call in looking for activities to do while staying in the area on holidays or with friends.
Corporate and sporting groups visiting from outside the area are also common.
Par-Tee Virtual Golf has been supported by other tour operators such as the Mercure Gerringong Resort, which provides flyers to guests promoting it as one of the activities in the area.
Mr Sleigh supported the business even before it opened because it was the kind of investment in activities he thought was needed.
And the more variation and diversity the better, he said.
Mr Sleigh said events had been also been a core feature of the regional visitation strategy which had proved so successful.
And they were a great way to introduce people to the region.
"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," he said.
"But now we are attracting more visitors, we need to continue to grow the reasons for them to stay longer, and spend more money locally.
"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 attractors."
According to the latest National Visitor Survey released by Destination NSW on Tuesday, the number of overnight domestic visitors for the year to March was up 10 per cent and the amount they spent grew 31 per cent.
Sydney accounted for almost half of all visitors followed by other parts of NSW and Canberra.
The other trend was that the number of people coming for a holiday was steadily passing the number arriving to visit family and friends.
Nights spent for a holiday grew by 21.6 per cent while business related overnight stays fell by 3.5 per cent.
More than half of all visitors said they ate out at a restaurant or cafe while they were in Wollongong and 38.2 per cent went to the beach.
Visitors to Wollongong region in the year to March
Sydney visitors 48.6 per cent - up 17.2per cent
Regional NSW 34 per cent - up 6.2 per cent
ACT 5.1per cent - up 28.2 per cent
■Queensland visitor numbers grew by 15.1per cent.
■Victorian visitor numbers fell by 26.5per cent.
■Nights spent by regional NSW visitors were up 74.3per cent.
