The Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (TTF) has commended the NSW Government and Arts NSW on the development of a Cultural Tourism Toolkit to assist regional communities to promote and capitalise on their unique cultural offerings and grow their visitor economies.

The Cultural Tourism Toolkit launched by the Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant at the ARTLANDS Conference in Dubbo today provides tips and real-life case studies of regional communities that have leveraged their cultural offerings to attract more visitors to stay longer and spend more in their visitor economies.

“The most common question that regional communities ask is what can we do to encourage more dispersal of visitors, particularly international visitors, outside of Australia’s big cities. The Arts NSW Cultural Tourism Toolkit is a handy guide for regional communities to develop cultural attractions and get the word out to potential visitors,” said Margy Osmond, TTF CEO.

“It’s fantastic to see the NSW Government and Arts NSW developing these type of resources to assist regional communities to tap into the surge in international visitors that are coming to Australia – 8 million in the last 12 months.

“Cultural tourism is on the rise across the world as more people seek to enrich their visitor experience by engaging in the arts and rich culture of communities.

“At the same time, visitors in the age of social media and instant sharing are looking for unique experiences that stand them out from the crowd and that is the perfect opportunity to be leveraged by regional communities that are off the beaten path from the “House, Rock and Reef”.

“Research shows that people who travel for cultural and heritage tourism stay longer and spend more than the average. International visitors stay 24 per cent longer and spend 24 per cent more, and domestic visitors stay 37 per cent longer and spend 56 per cent more – – so that is a lucrative market for regional communities to try to attract through a vibrant and unique cultural offering.”

The Cultural Tourism Toolkit is available on the www.arts.nsw.gov.au website.