Collaboration The Focus For New Tourism Chairperson Erin Watt

New Cowra Tourism Chairperson Erin Watt says she will focus on greater collaboration within its membership and developing itineraries for visitors to Cowra.

Ms Watt started in the role at the start of the month, following the resignation of Ray Walsh, who worked in the role for several years.

Having been elected to the new Cowra Shire Council in last December’s local government election, she has been heavily involved in the Cowra Shire, and brings plenty of local knowledge to her new role.

She said her biggest focus would be enticing visitors to stay in Cowra for longer by getting local tourism operators and members of the CTC to collaborate and allow the CTC to create itineraries for travellers to the shire.

“I’d love to see people stay here for a week and not just a weekend,” she said.

“If people come here for the Cowra Cup, for example, or any other event, my goal would be to get them to stay longer and spend time at our many other attractions like Wyangala Dam and the Japanese Garden, and explore our whole region while they’re here.”

She said the CTC is currently working on introducing software called ‘Hero’, which will revolutionise how it can work with its members and tourism operators in the Cowra Shire.

The system will allow CTC to create itineraries and make bookings for accommodation and restaurants, pubs, clubs and cafes.

Ms Watt said that in order for CTC to be able to make bookings for tourists on behalf of local businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors, it would need them to come forward and sign up to Hero as well.

“The CTC is calling for any businesses interested in working with us to contact the Visitor Information Centre and get onto Hero,” she said.

“I’m very passionate about tourism in Cowra and I’d really like to see businesses collaborating with us.”

“I believe that the more collaboration we have, the more we will be able to get Cowra moving in the right direction.” She said that tourism was a great supporter of Cowra’s local economy, and it was important for CTC to do what it could to grow tourism in the Cowra region.

Meanwhile, Ms Watt confirmed that the ‘Get Chris To Cowra’ initiative was still on the cards.

She said the CTC had been in contact with Aussie Hollywood hunk Chris Hemsworth’s management, and it was hoped the superstar actor would be able to visit Cowra by Spring this year following his filming commitments.

• Topics:
• Tourism