Policy, Product and Engagement

The Policy, Product and Engagement division has a focus on driving stakeholder engagement, increasing collaboration between visitor economy businesses and government, and supporting the NSW Government’s vision of making NSW the premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific.

There are three teams within the division, including:

• Product and Distribution Development

This team assists NSW visitor economy businesses to build world-class NSW experiences by ensuring visitor needs and demands are met through the supply of products and experiences supported by Destination NSW-led programs.

• Regional Hub

This team works with the Destination Networks and other regional stakeholders to further grow visitation and expenditure, while enhancing the community, cultural and environmental benefits of a vibrant regional visitor economy. This includes supporting and securing new business events to attract more overnight visitors to regional areas.

• Corporate Affairs and Policy

This team is responsible for corporate communications, ministerial and parliamentary services, and visitor economy policy. This includes supporting the Minister for Tourism’s office with proactive and reactive media, briefing notes and correspondence, and materials for parliament. The team leads engagement across government, including sharing policy advice and produces the Insights weekly newsletter, manages Destination NSW’s Press Office, corporate social channels, and website.

Choose Tourism NSW Program

The Choose Tourism Program is a $1.4 million initiative funded by the Australian Government via THRIVE 2030, designed to address workforce and skills shortages in the visitor economy.

Delivered by Destination NSW, the program sought to encourage young people, First Nations Australians, seniors, and people living with a disability to pursue a career in the sector and assist business owners to retain and upskill their staff.

Outcomes included:

• 10 Tourism and Hospitality Experience Schools days were delivered across regional NSW in Merimbula, Kiama, Central Coast, Tamworth, Bowral, Albury, Coffs Harbour, Orange, Newcastle, and Byron Bay. A total of 603 high school students and 88 teachers/career advisors took part in the program, with 85% of students saying they would consider a career in the visitor economy.
• More than 80 people across NSW signed up for a mentor program to learn from senior industry leaders with emerging talent.
• Seven one-day professional development events were held across regional NSW in Queanbeyan, Tamworth, Albury, Orange, Newcastle, Byron Bay, and Wollongong. These were attended by 227 visitor economy operators, with 100% saying the event met or exceeded their expectations.
• Three webinars were held to upskill industry leaders and inform them of training and apprenticeship programs available.
• Destination NSW partnered with SEEK.com to boost visitor economy job advertisements on the site, using the tagline “work that doesn’t feel like work”. The campaign delivered 5.8 million ad impressions and more than 37,000 clicks. More than 15,000 job applications were initiated as a result of the campaign.
• Destination NSW produced a video case study on Hotel Etico, which employs and trains staff with disabilities.
• Destination NSW partnered with TAFE NSW to develop a dedicated visitor economy stream within the Certificate III in Tourism.

Industry Events

Destination NSW supported visitor economy stakeholders with tools, knowledge and resources during FY23-24 to help promote NSW destinations and experiences in Australia and beyond.

Visitor Economy Forum

5 October 2023

More than 450 NSW visitor economy stakeholders attended the NSW Visitor Economy Forum — Building Momentum to 2030, hosted by Destination NSW. The forum delved into market and social trends, provided updates on artificial intelligence, data and technology, and gave international travel projections via a series of keynote speeches and panel discussions.

Keynote speakers included:

• Futurologist Professor Rocky Scopelliti
• McCrindle Director of Advisory Ashley Fell
• Google Head of Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Max Kaye
• Tourism Australia Manager — Strategy and Research Rob Harding-Smith

The forum also featured 12 breakout panel sessions, each with a focus on the state’s strengths that present opportunities for future growth. Topics covered the commercial and social benefits of accessible and inclusive travel, how Aboriginal tourism is evolving, embedding sustainability and telling the story, embracing the wellness travel opportunity, the power of public relations and earned media, agritourism, connecting with visitors through culinary experiences, leveraging creative industries and the 24-hour economy, and the key factors that make a destination competitive in the business event market.

Focus on India

18-25 March 2024

Destination NSW hosted a delegation of more than 35 key travel partners from India, showcasing NSW visitor experiences to one of the state’s key inbound markets. The trade event provided NSW visitor economy operators with a platform to connect with Indian travel partners, enabling them to better promote, educate, and sell Sydney and NSW experiences to their clients.

The event included a full-day, appointment-based workshop at Sydney Cricket Ground, a gala dinner at the iconic Sydney Opera House featuring NSW produce, and a familiarisation program showcasing Sydney, Shoalhaven, the Hunter Valley, and Port Stephens. More than 35 businesses from across the state capitalised on meetings and networking opportunities with the Indian delegation, forging connections that will expand reach and attract new audiences to NSW.

New Product Workshop

25 March 2024

The full-day, appointment-based workshop was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and aimed to drive growth for NSW visitor economy businesses by introducing new internationally ready experiences to key buyers. The workshop facilitated more than 500 buyer appointments, connecting 19 visitor economy businesses from across NSW to engage with international and domestic travel buyers. This included inbound tour operators, domestic wholesalers, and online travel agents.

The new visitor experiences spanned from accommodation options to culinary and agritourism, as well as nature-based activities and wellness. To prepare the visitor economy businesses for the workshop, Destination NSW provided distribution development support, including inbound strategy, seller training workshops, and one-to-one personalised business assistance.

UK and Europe Roadshow 2023

13-17 November 2023

Destination NSW’s first international roadshow since 2019 was held over five days in London, Manchester, and Frankfurt. The event showcased Sydney and NSW experiences and destinations to key international buyers and was designed to educate travel agents, product managers, and wholesale staff. More than 250 product managers and travel agents attended across the week, with 11 NSW visitor economy businesses participating.

Cruise Ready Workshops

April to June 2024

Destination NSW conducted workshops in Eden and Newcastle to highlight cruise shore excursion opportunities for NSW businesses. The full-day workshops focused on how to maximise bookable experiences, including learning about the cruise distribution network, markets and demographics, how to create cruise shore excursions, and how to access Destination NSW cruise resources and support. The workshops aimed to increase the number of contracted products with cruise ground handlers and products featured in cruise shore excursions, as well as pre- and post-cruise itineraries in NSW.

Experience Development Workshops

April to June 2024

A new, free workshop series delivered under the NSW First Program, the full-day Experience Development Workshops assisted visitor economy businesses (tour, attraction, and accommodation providers) to create and refine experiences that meet visitor needs and highlight the strengths of NSW. The workshops focused on creating world-class, bookable visitor experiences and provided key insights into region-specific experience development opportunities. In FY23-24, 353 participants attended 10 workshops in locations across NSW, ranging from Bellingen to the Central Coast and Moama.

Australian Tourism Exchange

19-23 May 2024

Australia’s biggest annual travel industry event, the Australian Tourism Exchange 2024 (ATE24), attracted 700 key buyers from more than 30 countries. ATE24 was an opportunity for global distributors — including wholesalers and online travel agents — to connect with 131 NSW destinations, products, and experiences. Delivered by Tourism Australia, ATE24 combined scheduled business appointments with networking events.

Destination NSW assisted 74 visitor economy operators to prepare for the event via its capability-building NSW First Program. It also supported five new businesses to attend ATE24 through its New Product Pathway program. Following ATE24, Destination NSW delivered a familiarisation program for 114 key distribution partners from 12 priority markets. The program included 14 itineraries, all presenting Vivid Sydney 2024 and locations across NSW.

Spotlight

Highlights from the Policy, Product and Engagement division’s programming and initiatives during the FY23-24 to support government and industry stakeholders.

Greater Sydney Local Government Engagement Program

The Greater Sydney Local Government Engagement Program provides the 33 local councils in Greater Sydney with a point of contact within Destination NSW and ensures a whole-of-government approach to growing the NSW visitor economy. The program fosters collaboration across local councils and acts as a forum for responding to emerging issues.

In the second year of the program, Destination NSW sought feedback from stakeholders and evolved the delivery of the Greater Sydney Local Government Engagement Program. Operational changes were trialled to enable greater collaboration and insights through stronger attendance and increased diversity of stakeholders at meetings, aligning more stakeholders with shared experiences and similarities.

Additionally, Destination NSW expanded the program to include a separate familiarisation and networking calendar, enabling all Local Government stakeholders to attend, regardless of geographic location, to enhance shared learning and experiences within the visitor economy.

There were five familiarisations during the financial year to locations including Ramadan Nights in Lakemba and the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden.

Destination NSW has also increased local government engagement with an awareness of NSW Government policies and programs. This has been achieved through profiling other agencies at working group meetings, such as Create NSW and the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner. Destination NSW presented at council-led business events, increasing awareness of its work, including the NSW First Program, Insights newsletter, the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, and the Content Library.

Corporate website relaunch

Destination NSW launched a new corporate website in February 2024, providing a dynamic digital hub for visitor economy stakeholders seeking the latest research, information, tools, and resources to support their growth. The state-of-the-art platform caters to the needs of its diverse community of users, offering data and insights on visitors and markets, training and business support via the NSW First Program, a newsroom featuring media releases and updates, information on major event investment, industry and business events, and the latest marketing campaigns and partner toolkits.

Destination NSW is committed to leveraging technology for seamless government and industry interactions, ensuring quicker and easier access to news, statistics, and insights linked to the visitor economy. Designed to provide an engaging user experience, the new corporate website has improved search functionalities and mobile responsiveness. It positions Destination NSW as adaptable and forward-thinking, ensuring that NSW achieves its targets and goals for visit expenditure.

Key features of the new Destination NSW corporate website include:

• Modern and intuitive user experience (UX) and design
• A highly responsive search functionality powered by Algolia, making it easy to surface reports, articles, and related content
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA compliance
• Industry-leading data security through secure, cloud-based systems Sanity and Vercel
• Subscription function to Destination NSW’s weekly visitor economy newsletter, Insights

Business Events

The conferencing sector brings significant economic and employment benefits to NSW. Business visitors are a high-yield sector, and distributing their economic benefits across the state is key to growing the NSW visitor economy.

In February 2024, Destination NSW launched a fresh approach to growing the business events sector in regional NSW and updated its regional conferencing program name from Meet in Regional NSW to Business Events NSW.

Displaying immersive visitor experiences in regional NSW, the new positioning, ‘Corporate events that feel anything but’, aims to present an engaging alternative to the traditional business event experience. Aligning the business events positioning with the Feel New brand has enabled NSW to stand out from its competitors by demonstrating how the distinctive character of the state’s regional destinations and communities can take business beyond the boardroom.

The Business Events NSW program raises awareness and consideration for regional NSW as a premier business event destination and drives new event sales enquiries directly to stakeholders. Destination NSW works with business event organisers to provide destination, product, experience, and supplier information to help influence decision-making and drive additional visitation, expenditure, and length of stay for conferences held in NSW.

These efforts are conducted in partnership with Business Events Sydney to deliver international business event opportunities and strategically significant domestic events for Sydney.

In partnership with the Destination Networks, Destination NSW also supports industry development initiatives to help improve the quality and range of conferencing experiences and their delivery by key stakeholders in the region. The agency works collaboratively with local operators, councils, and local tourism organisations to help increase regional capacity to secure and deliver business events across the state.

In addition, Destination NSW is a major investor in Business Events Sydney, with the goal of securing more international conventions, incentive travel reward programs, corporate events, and exhibitions for Sydney.

Business Events NSW Showcase

Destination NSW highlighted immersive visitor experiences throughout regional NSW to more than 100 business event stakeholders on 15 May 2024 at its inaugural Business Events NSW Showcase.

Held at Sydney’s Collider event space, the showcase was an opportunity to bring to life Destination NSW’s fresh approach to growing the business events sector in regional NSW. The event raised awareness and consideration for NSW destinations and experiences to more than 80 qualified business event planners, with 30 NSW business owners and/or operators and destination stakeholders promoting their service offerings and experiences.

Destination NSW’s planning and support in delivering the event received a 100% ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ survey result from stakeholders, with 94% feeling their exhibitor objectives were met or exceeded.

Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo 2024

Destination NSW attended the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo 2024 (AIME) from 19–21 February 2024 in partnership with Business Events Sydney.

AIME is the leading trade event for the meetings and business events industry. The event provides a significant platform to showcase the diversity of business event opportunities across NSW to the world, offering venues and suppliers an invaluable forum to meet with business event planners seeking their next location.

More than 40 destinations, venues, and experience suppliers from across the state were showcased at the event. Destination NSW and its co-exhibitors pitched the best of NSW through 800 appointments with 100 hand-picked business event buyers and media visiting the NSW stand for networking opportunities.

Ministerial media opportunities

Destination NSW attended the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo 2024 (AIME) from 19–21 February 2024 in partnership with Business Events Sydney.

AIME is the leading trade event for the meetings and business events industry. The event provides a significant platform to showcase the diversity of business event opportunities across NSW to the world, offering venues and suppliers an invaluable forum to meet with business event planners seeking their next location.

More than 40 destinations, venues, and experience suppliers from across the state were showcased at the event. Destination NSW and its co-exhibitors pitched the best of NSW through 800 appointments with 100 hand-picked business event buyers and media visiting the NSW stand for networking opportunities.

Aboriginal tourism

Aboriginal tourism makes a substantial contribution to visitor economy growth and creates valuable employment opportunities in regional areas. It also provides domestic and international visitors with the chance to experience the rich cultural heritage of Aboriginal communities in NSW.

Destination NSW is proud to support Aboriginal-owned and Aboriginal-led visitor economy businesses in NSW. The agency works closely with the NSW Aboriginal Tourism Operators Council (NATOC) and Aboriginal operators to develop, promote, and sell world-class visitor experiences throughout the state.

During FY23-24, Destination NSW delivered a range of commitments as part of the Australian Government’s Closing the Gap Initiative, which aims to achieve equal life outcomes for all Australians. NSW is the only jurisdiction in Australia with a priority reform under Closing the Gap that focuses on employment, business growth, and economic prosperity through the NSW Roadmap for Aboriginal Business Growth.

Destination NSW has worked closely with Aboriginal businesses to harness their potential and build economic opportunities. Three Aboriginal Experience Development Pathway programs were delivered in partnership with NATOC in regional NSW. The programs, which included on-country meetings and Aboriginal experience familiarisations, provided prospective and emerging Aboriginal visitor economy businesses with advice and skills to develop their visitor experiences.

Additionally, Destination NSW delivered specialist media training to Aboriginal-owned and Aboriginal-led businesses in partnership with Indigenous X.

Five NSW Aboriginal visitor economy businesses were hosted at the Australian Tourism Exchange 2024 on a two-day trade event introduction program. This event, Australia’s largest annual business-to-business tourism exchange, provided Aboriginal businesses with valuable trade event insights for targeting international visitors.

Destination NSW also partnered with the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) to deliver a two-year NSW Aboriginal Trade Event Support initiative. The initiative will help seven visitor economy businesses offering authentic Aboriginal experiences develop relationships with international buyers.

“Our state has so much to offer when it comes to Aboriginal tourism. NSW visitor economy businesses play an important role in educating visitors, facilitating conversations and strengthening cultural ties within our communities. Destination NSW continues to work closely with Aboriginal businesses in Sydney and regional NSW to keep driving the living cultures and histories of Aboriginal peoples.”