Tourism News

The recent Easter break was excellent for the Central Coast – particularly for the holiday parks and apartment style accommodation. Day visitors were flooding to the region with an influx of international visitors over the public holidays.

“The region is perfect for families on limited budgets who are looking for an affordable holiday. It seems people have used some of the federal government money on a holiday,” said Sarah Kerrsmith, Central Coast Tourism’s Marketing Manager.
Central Coast Holiday Parks reported that their four parks were mostly booked in advance and were full over the Easter long weekend as well as throughout the whole school holidays.

Glenworth Valley Outdoor Adventures was host to a six day Medieval Festival over the Easter holiday which involved over 600 people. In addition, it was the busiest weekend of the year for camping within the Valley. All activities in Glenworth Valley were reported to be filled and this extended for the whole of the school holidays.

Mary Rayner, General Manager of the Australian Reptile Park said that Good Friday and Easter Saturday was their second best on record. Bec Fraser, owner of The Cowrie Restaurant and Onda Restaurant, said that both Terrigal restaurants were well patronised with 90% of the business coming from Sydneysiders on a short break to the region.

Big crowds for Country Music Festival
The 2009 Central Coast Country Music Festival, held on the weekend of 6th to 8th March saw crowds flocking to The Entrance and surrounds. With perfect weather it is estimated that over 45,000 people attended the festival across twenty five venues.

The weekend started with a Youth Showcase supporting youth and up-coming stars in the Country Music circuit and finished with an amazing performance by the Central Coast’s very own Gina Jeffreys, who surprised everyone when a special guest artist, Beccy Cole, joined her on stage.

The Memorial Park Stage also hosted performances from Travis Collins, Talia Wittmann and Tamara Stewart.
Performances on the Sails Stage were well received with Lucky Starr, Angela Hayden, The Harmonators, Bec Willis and the Chicken Train Skifflers keeping the crowds entertained. The Sunday on the Sails Stage also had a great line up with Daniel Thompson, Victoria Baillie, Tracey Coster, Kelly Hope and Matt Frost among others.

A very popular component of the festival this year was the Lindsay Butler Studios Showcase held at The Entrance Surf Club and a Poets Breakfast held at the Waterfront Plaza was almost full. Sunday’s entertainers included Steve Passfield, Morgan Evans and the Feral Swing Katz and crowd favorites The Sunny Cowgirls.

The large busker’s attendance continued this year with a huge amount of buskers lining the main street and performing inside shops, carrying on the country theme throughout the town. This year there was also many more line dancing displays.

The Entrance Town Centre’s Events and Marketing Co-ordinator, Vanessa Whitely, said that overall this year’s Festival was a huge success, paving the way for an exciting and bigger festival next year. Ms Whitely said that the 2010 Festival will be the event’s 10th anniversary and will be held on Friday 12th, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th March 2010.

This year’s event was sponsored by Wyong Shire Council, The Herald, The Central Coast Sun Weekly, 2GO, NBN, Today’s Country 94one and Macron Music.

Central Coast Tourism in the driver’s seat with new NRMA partnership
Horst Endrulat, CEO of Central Coast Tourism and Chair of the Pacific Coast Touring Route Inc. (PCTR), has welcomed NRMA Motoring & Services to the PCTR Board.

Michael Leary, Head of NRMA Travel, joins the Executive Officers of regional tourism authorities between Sydney and the Gold Coast as members of PCTR Inc. – the Association responsible for the development and promotion of the Pacific Coast Touring Route.

“We are delighted to have NRMA Motoring & Services join the Board of PCTR Inc.,” said Mr Endrulat. “The NRMA has over 2.2 million members actively interested in travel and touring and Michael’s position as Head of NRMA Travel at NRMA Motoring & Services brings valuable expertise and consumer insights to the Board.

“Our business model is to create commercial opportunities for industry to promote their businesses, while creating a platform for PCTR to be economically sustainable as an incorporated body,” he said.

Speaking after the AGM, Mr Leary said, “NRMA has invested heavily in its travel assets while holding focus on our core business, which is serving our members, NSW’s motoring public. We recognize that the Pacific Coast Touring Route is the most popular touring route in Australia. Intrastate and interstate travelers make up the bulk of visitors to regions of NSW spanning the Pacific Coast Touring Route and this is our core member base. So it makes good sense for us to have a position on the Board.

“PCTR has a ten year history as a touring experience for the international self-drive market,” said Mr Endrulat. “One of our achievements in 2008 was to launch the Pacific Coast Touring Guide to the domestic drive market, who have been largely unaware of the diversity of experiences and attractions both on the route or accessible from it via other tourist drives. Our primary strategy over the next three years is to implement creative and effective marketing and promotions using innovative technology to reach Australian travelers,” he said.

Collectively, PCTR regions account for nearly 22 million visitors to NSW and over 33 million visitor nights. The total expenditure in 2008 was $5.4 billion.

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