South Coast destination plan stakes out region's tourism future

A new plan published by Destination Sydney Surrounds South has identified the region's key strengths and challenges over the next seven years in attracting visitors back to the Illawarra, Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven.

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The Destination Management Plan identifies the next two years as being the "Recovery Phase" for the sector, with visitor numbers having fallen dramatically in the two years between the end of 2019 and the end of 2021.

From 13.2 million visitors in 2019, the region welcomed only 8 million gusts in 2021, and no international visitals.

The workforce also dropped by 1000 people, to 14,822 workers directly employed in tourism.

While figures have increased in 2022, as restrictions were eased and borders opened, recovering the lost workforce has been a challenge, Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh said.

"Travel has come back reasonably quickly, the international market will come back over the next 12 months, so making sure we have a workforce that's able to accommodate those people and meet their expectations is really important to the long term viability of the hospitality and tourism industries," he said.

In the short term, a key market is road trippers driving down the Grand Pacific Drive. While the Sea Cliff Bridge was opened in 2005, the region's roads became a tourist hot spot in themselves after COVID as roadtrips became an easy and unrestricted way to travel.

The Destination Management Plan identifies the "ultimate drive holiday" as one of the region's main calling cards, with tourists from Southern and Western Sydney, Canberra and those touring up and down the coast as those most likely to take a road trip.

Looking further ahead, linking up the tourism experiences of the subregions, for example the local fresh produce of the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands, coastal experiences in Wollongong and Shellharbour and cultural landmarks in between, would encourage road trippers to stay longer in the region, and create itineraries linking these destinations.

"The main thing that we need to concentrate on as an industry, and as a region, is continuing to develop commercial products so that people aren't just travelling to see our wonderful beaches or escarpment, we want them to come down here and spend money in local economies create jobs in local economies," Mr Sleigh said. "That really needs to be the priority focus as we move forward."

As the region moves from "recovery" to "momentum" and "accelerate" towards 2030, challenges around connectivity, lack of accommodation and disruption from climate change and natural disasters, as seen in the ongoing rain throughout 2022.

One business that is part of the new wave of operators driving the recovery is Hotel Totto, which opened in January.

While an initial opening date of December was pushed back due to the all-too-common lack of staff challenge, hotel general manager Matt Curran said the 40 per cent of rooms that were open were booked up.

"Our product has been going extremely well," he said.

Major events have been a big drawcard, including comedian Jimmy Carr and the pre-season fixture between the Dragons and English rugby league team St Helens, as the hotel prepares to be fully open by March.

Being located in the CBD, Hotel Totto sales manager Demi Butler said the business was part of the evolution of the visitor economy in Wollongong, as travellers embraced Wollongong's small bar, culinary and nightlife options, as well as the beaches and the escarpment.

"We want to win over those people who are on trips from Sydney to stay here, in Wollongong."

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