Wollongong is a destination of choice in Australia as the NSW school holidays kick off this week.
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The latest travel data from Wotif.com has Wollongong ranked among the Top 10 family destinations in the nation. It is placed alongside the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Great Ocean Road and Coffs Harbour as a destination of choice for families during the April break.
Novotel Wollongong Northbeach general manager Steve Savic said the hotel was definitely seeing a spike in family bookings this fortnight and said the result was great marketing for the city as a destination of choice.
“With Wollongong being highlighted in lists like this it is amazing for us and our ability to be able to sell the region as a destination. It is about Wollongong being listed as a tourist city,” he said.
Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh described it as a fantastic result because the figures are based on confirmed travel which meant people were actually coming and staying in local hotels.
“Wollongong is definitely starting to mature as a genuine lesuire tourist destination.
“The exposure we have received over the last three years through the major events program has been a big driver of that.
“But people from Sydney and South West Sydney have seen there is a lot to do down here and it is a great place to take a short break”.
“We know the visiting friends and relatives market is a major source of visitation to Wollongong and the South Coast and to see that market is also staying in hotels is great because it shows operators are getting a commercial return out of it.”
The Wotif.com figures come on the back of the National Visitors Survey results for 2017 that showcased strong growth.
And that is starting to focus attention on whether the city needs another big hotel.
“It importantly shows that people are staying in hotels,” Mr Sleigh said.
“We are probably at the point with these kind of figures that we need to start looking at wthether or not we have the right hotel stock and whether we might start to look at where that hotel might be built.
‘’And of course building a hotel creates a lot of jobs. There are great opportunities when you build hotels for a whole range of people to create employment.”
Wotif’s Top Domestic Family Destinations for the April School Holidays
- Gold Coast, QLD
- Sunshine Coast, QLD
- Coffs Harbour, NSW
- Great Ocean Road, VIC
- Port Macquarie, NSW
- Cairns, QLD
- Townsville, QLD
- Dubbo, NSW
- Hervey Bay, QLD
- Wollongong, NSW