Ex-Sydneysider STUART PEARSON looks at Bathurst and its future from the perspective of a new resident.
FOR decades, Bathurst Regional Council has heavily invested in sports-based tourism to drive the local economy. As a strategy, it has worked brilliantly.
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Gymkhanas, tournaments, races, competitions and matches occur almost every week of the year, bringing many thousands of visitors to this thriving city. The result of all these events and visitors is that many millions of dollars pour into the local economy.
Congratulations Bathurst Regional Council, this strategy has made you the envy of the Central West and will continue to generate wealth for years to come. But people's tastes are changing. Sports tourism is now being challenged by a new emerging interest - cultural and heritage tourism.
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Cultural and heritage tourism is defined as visits to theatres, concerts, museums and galleries, festivals and fairs, historic houses, villages or monuments and experiencing Aboriginal art and culture.
According to Tourism Australia (June 2019), there were just under one million tourists who visited Bathurst last year. Of that figure, about 100,000 wanted a cultural and heritage experience. Tourism Australia found that this sector is growing at an impressive rate of over eight per cent per annum.
Who is the average cultural and heritage visitor? He or she is over 50 years of age, well-educated and well-travelled. These "grey nomads" mainly come from Sydney.
They want to meet the locals and learn about the culture and history of the place. They want to feel a connection to the location through stories, experiences and tasting local produce.
Cultural and heritage visitors spend more dollars per person per day than all other categories of tourism and they stay longer. According to Tourism Research Australia, every cultural and heritage visitor is, on average, worth twice as much to the local economy than any other form of tourism.
Tourism in all its forms injects almost $230m into the economy of Bathurst local government area, of which sports tourism currently represents about half.
But the growth of sports tourism is beginning to taper off, whereas cultural tourism is growing rapidly. If these trends continue, then cultural and heritage tourism will be worth more to Bathurst than sports tourism in 10 years or so.
We already have four museums in the city and two more in the pipeline. We have a very well-regarded regional art gallery, gorgeous villages oozing history from every street and one of the most exceptional collections of colonial architecture in the country - including the magnificent Abercrombie House.
We have the Royal Bathurst Show, a winter festival that is growing every year, an entertainment centre that presents the best of art and culture to the city. And next year Bathurst will host a blockbuster concert by Sir Elton John.
However, these events and locations are all disconnected without a unifying, cohesive narrative or meeting place to market to the rest of Australia and beyond.
An excellent place to capture a growing slice of the cultural and heritage dollar is to provide a central location in the CBD where visitors and locals alike can gather, exchange ideas and learn about our wonderful history, from the dreamtime of the Wiradyuri to European settlement and right up to the modern day. Where people can go for easy walks around the city and soak in the local architecture, shopping, food and wine.
We must revitalise and rejuvenate the long-held dream of a Town Square. If Charles Sturt University's recently announced consideration to have a presence in the heart of the city is realised, then the revitalisation will include youth, innovation and creativity.
A very good model to look at would be the city centre of Newcastle NSW, where local and state governments joined with Newcastle University to create a vibrant, cultural and educational hub in the heart of this former industrial city.
