The Tweed in Northern NSW will host the 2007 Australian Tourism Export Council’s annual symposium, the NSW Minister for Tourism and Sport and Recreation, Sandra Nori announced on Friday.
The symposium will be held between April 17 and April 20, 2007 and brings together more than 600 suppliers of Australian tourism product and global travel brokers.
“Through this event NSW will showcase: five World Heritage listed national parks; hundreds of kilometres of unspoilt clean beaches; rivers, lakes and wetlands; and great new accommodation available in the Tweed,” Ms Nori said.
The announcement was made during a Gala dinner to close this year’s ATEC symposium in Cairns.
“This year’s organisers in Cairns estimated the event was worth up to $1.5 million to their local economy, so the Tweed could also expect a similar benefit,” said Ms Nori.
ATEC Managing Director, Matthew Hingerty, said the Symposium would feature three days of workshops and was the largest annual tourism conference in Australia.
“ATEC will be working very closely with our local branch, Tourism NSW, Tweed and Coolangatta Tourism Inc, and the local tourism industry to make this event a huge success,” Mr Hingerty said.
Tourism NSW secured the event with the support of a Tweed tourism marketing group comprising Tweed & Coolangatta Tourism Incorporated, Gold Coast Airport, Twin Towns, Outrigger, Peppers at SALT, SALT Village, Domain Resorts and the Northern Rivers Tourism Organisation.
Tweed and Coolangatta Tourism General Manager, Terry Watson said organisers would highlight the region to the delegates during the symposium and also through pre and post touring schedules.
Ms Nori said that last year, the Northern Rivers NSW region had welcomed around 4.7 million visitors who spent an estimated $1.2 billion.
