On Tuesday 11 March I had the pleasure to address the 2014 Local Government NSW Tourism Conference – Harvesting the Value of Tourism, at Pokolbin, in the Hunter Valley.

Over 200 delegates, representing local government and tourism bodies from throughout NSW, met to discuss local and state-wide initiatives designed to assist and drive our visitor economy. Importantly, this annual event also allows for networking to occur and for participants to celebrate and champion their many successes.

It was pleasing to hear positive stories acknowledging the value of arts and heritage as generators of local stories that attract significant interest from visitors. Along with distinctive landscape, the character of people and the built environment, museums and galleries are being recognised as providing a constant and expected component to most tourists’ itineraries.

My presentation to the conference focussed on the new Museums & Galleries of NSW website and the opportunity it provides for tourists, wherever they might be in NSW, to find and visit museums and galleries nearby. We are about to launch a new campaign providing all Visitor Information Centres in NSW with brochures and posters promoting the site and its functionality.  

With stage 3 of the remarkable Tweed Regional Gallery, known as the Margaret Olley Art Centre, opening this coming weekend – with culture and heritage colliding 24/7 in Broken Hill, where the State’s oldest regional gallery meets extraordinary heritage – and an $11m makeover to the Albury Regional Gallery scheduled open late next year, our ambition to assist the sector to attract audiences Australia wide has never been stronger. These stories highlight a capacity found throughout the state. Our website makes it easier than it’s ever been to discover and visit similar places ….anywhere you might want to go. 

Michael Rolfe, CEO

Museum & Galleries of NSW

You can listen to Lake Macquarie Councillor Chad Griffith chat about the 2014 Local Government NSW Tourism Conferenceon ABC 1233.