Chamber welcomes Council's draft Tourism Strategy

Almost 100 local tourism and industry professionals attended the presentation of a draft strategy to attract more visitors to Parramatta, held at The Sebel Hotel Parramatta on Thursday 4 March.

The presentation outlined a series of recommendations to be considered for implementation over the next five years and covered areas such as product development, infrastructure, marketing and governance of the local tourism offer.

Those in the audience heard from leading tourism experts and were encouraged to participate in the discussions to help formulate clear guidelines and actions designed to drive the strategy forward.

Whilst Parramatta already has a great deal to offer visitors, including heritage sites, vibrant theatre, festivals and events and an outstanding dining precinct there still needs for more to be done to encourage those visitors to come to Parramatta to stay rather than use it as a transit point.

Working with colleagues across the tourism sector locally, and with the Council's partners at Tourism NSW, Parramatta can build further on its great product offerings and ensure that the Parramatta economy benefits from the tourism and travel sector

The Chamber believes that whilst there is still more to be done, the Council is on the right track and has engaged consultants which to date have produced data and ideas which are able to point the Parramatta Tourism strategy in the right direction.

The www.discoverparramatta.com website, which was launched by the Lord Mayor at the Chamber's State of the City address, is a comprehensive guide to everything there is to see and do in Parramatta and has been described as the ultimate leisure and entertainment guide for the area and is indeed an excellent start.