Penrith City Mayor Karen McKeown joined representatives from Council to present the tourism strategy at Destination NSW’s Board meeting in Penrith recently. Cr McKeown said feedback from the board and Minister Ayres was very positive.
“We were given the opportunity to present our campaign for Penrith - the Adventure Capital of NSW and talk about our plans for the future of tourism in Penrith, both of which were very well received, “Cr McKeown said.
“When you look at what we have achieved in just over 12 months, it is very impressive; Penrith now has a Destination Management Plan (DMP), a new tourism website and a unique position as the Adventure Capital of NSW and a successful three-month promotional campaign.
Cr McKeown said Council has made significant improvements to the distribution of visitor information and was now focusing on building the visitor economy in Penrith.
“We have commissioned a feasibility study into accommodation to address the shortfall of beds in the City, we’re looking at how we can attract more tourism attractions and major events and we’re investigating the possibility of working through a Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) with the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury,” Cr McKeown said.
At the launch of the website and awareness campaign in September, Minister Ayres praised Penrith City Council for investing resources and money into tourism.
Penrith has 1.3 million annual visitors injecting $231 million into the local economy every year. Penrith City Council’s goal is to double the number of visitors and increase their spending to more than $500 million annually by 2025.
