“TOURISM is everybody’s business.”
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It was the sound byte dished out more than a decade ago by the state’s tourism body – but Riverina tourism heavyweights say it’s still relevant today.
Another influential figure, Kay Hull, the former Riverina MP, has added her support to The Leader’s Our Sporting Chance campaign.
With three years’ experience as chief of the state’s tourism board, Mrs Hull urged all Wagga people to realise the "unbelievable" potential of events-based tourism.
“You only have to see what the City-Country match did that day,” she said.
“The multiplier effect is now about seven to one. For every one dollar spent, seven dollars goes back into the community – it’s unbelievable what it does for the Wagga economy. Tourism is everybody’s business.”
The campaign – already backed by an increasing number of Wagga powerbrokers – aims to attract an NRL season game and a Saturday race meeting to the city by 2016.
The campaign received a boost last month when the NRL invited Wagga to present its case, saying it was "happy to talk" to any regional area that wanted an NRL match.
Mrs Hull said the city “deserved” an NRL game and implored the code’s chiefs to “start giving back”.
“To me, we deserve an NRL game because we are the nursery ground for their players,” she said.
“I think it’s time for them to start giving back.”
The tourism might of the sporting events was realised last month when Wagga hosted the Gold Cup race carnival and the City-Country clash over one bumper sporting week.
The economic value of a standalone race meeting and an NRL match is estimated to inject more than $4.5 million into the Wagga economy alone.
Riverina Regional Tourism chairman Greg Lawrence said he was tired of regional Australia having to “beg, borrow and steal” to persuade sporting codes to invest in the bush.
“I really do think sometimes they need to give back to the bush,” he said.
“And with no disrespect to the Blue Mountains or the South Coast, this doesn’t mean those established markets.
“Where you’re going to get your greatest investment is working in those immature markets – let’s get a bit of investment back into the Riverina.”
Mrs Hull proposed meeting with rugby league and racing executives as the next step in arguing Wagga’s case.
It comes amid support from all corners of the community for the campaign.