COUNCIL-run facilities across Bathurst will reopen to the public gradually as the city emerges from an eight-week lockdown.
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While 'Freedom Day' is Monday, Bathurst Regional Council has chosen to not to start reopening its facilities until Thursday.
"Council will begin a staged reopening of facilities to the community from Thursday, October 14 starting with the Bathurst Visitor Information Centre," general manager David Sherley said.
"The civic centre, library, art gallery and museums will begin to open their doors from Monday, October 18."
Bathurst Library and the civic centre are scheduled to open on the 18th.
The first museum to open next week will be the National Motor Racing Museum on October 20, followed by the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum on October 21, and then Bathurst Rail Museum on October 22.
Chifley Home will remain closed as it doesn't comply with the four square metre rule.
Visitors to any of council's facilities will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they have a valid exemption.
Other measures will be implemented to ensure the facilities operate in a COVID-safe way.
"The key priority is ensuring we are creating as a safe environment for members of the community visiting our facilities. Detailed risk assessments are being conducted and when facilities open patrons will need to QR Code in, have proof of vaccination, wear masks and sanitise," Mr Sherley said.
A concierge service will be in place at the front door of each facility to ensure entry conditions are being met.
The closure of council's cultural facilities came at a significant cost.
The museums lost $170,000 during the September quarter, while Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre (BMEC) lost $110,000.
It's anticipated these figures will have increased given the facilities will be closed for at least half of October.
Council is already planning for ways to encourage tourists to Bathurst when travel to regional NSW can resume in a few weeks.
Mr Sherley said council is designing a $70,000 reopening campaign, funded by Destination NSW.
"This will include new content creation, mixed media advertising, social media campaign, new website landing page to direct bookings to local businesses and a promotional competition. The focus of this activity is to target the family market particularly in Sydney metro region," he said.
Bathurst Visitor Information Centre has also engaged a specialist PR Agency to work with on strategies for "generating media placements and trips by journalists and influencers".
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