Investing In Our Local Faces Of Tourism

Member for Kiama the Hon Gareth Ward MP has today announced that visitor information staff from the region will participate in a New South Wales Government workshop to build skills on attracting and supporting volunteers to be the local faces of the tourism industry.

Mr Ward said that the workshop in Shellharbour on 28 May 2019 is part of a series of workshops being held across the State.

“More than one hundred and fifty visitor information staff from across New South Wales, including the local area, are participating in these workshops to focus on the important role of local volunteers in helping champion our tourism assets to visitors,” Mr Ward said.

“It is the enthusiastic volunteers in local visitor information centres who provide the authentic faces and voices of the community and help promote all it has to offer.

“The New South Wales Government’s tourism and major events agency Destination NSW has joined forces with TAFE NSW to provide nationally accredited volunteer management training.

“Workshops are being held for staff in fifty-five Accredited Visitor Information Centres in fourteen locations throughout the State, including Shellharbour.”

Minister for Tourism the Hon Stuart Ayres MP said that volunteers are a rich source of information in their local regions and it is crucial to give them training for the skills they need.

“Tourism is big business in New South Wales, accounting for one in twenty-two jobs and, together with the State’s impressive major events calendar, generated an extraordinary $31.8 billion in overnight visitor spending for our economy last year,” Mr Ayres said.

“There is no doubt that volunteers were crucial to this success. They know their local regions better than anyone else and have the enthusiasm and passion to match.

“Volunteers from a large part of the workforce help staff at Accredited Visitor Information Centres across New South Wales, both on a day-to-day basis and also during festivals and major events.

“This makes it critical for us to train visitor information staff so that they can attract and help local volunteers to be the authentic faces and voices of our tourism success.”

The specially tailored training workshops are subsidised under the New South Wales Government’s ‘Smart and Skilled’ funding program.

The workshops are being held in Forbes, Wollongong, Merimbula, Wagga Wagga, Parramatta, Macksville, Shellharbour, Narribri, Tamworth, Ballina, Murwillumbah, Lithgow, Griffith and Newcastle.

For further information about Accredited Visitor Information Centres across New South Wales, visit visitnsw.com/visitor-information-centres