Nature attracting chinese tourists
MAKING the Hinterland China's tourism destination of choice is at the top of Division 5 Cr Jenny McKay's list.
After hosting 14 government officials from Xiamen, the Coast's sister city in China, in April this year, Cr McKay said she had been sowing the seeds for a blossoming relationship.
"The seeds have been planted, the fruit has grown and we now need to pick it," Cr McKay said.
"This sister-city relationship with Xiamen provides a real opportunity to leverage an existing strong relationship with China.
"This is a real break- through for international tourism on the Coast."
And Cr McKay said the Hinterland would be one of the big winners.
"Nature based tourism is what the Chinese have told us they want and the Hinterland can offer this,"
MAKING the Hinterland China's tourism destination of choice is at the top of Division 5 Cr Jenny McKay's list.
After hosting 14 government officials from Xiamen, the Coast's sister city in China, in April this year, Cr McKay said she had been sowing the seeds for a blossoming relationship.
"The seeds have been planted, the fruit has grown and we now need to pick it," Cr McKay said.
"This sister-city relationship with Xiamen provides a real opportunity to leverage an existing strong relationship with China.
"This is a real breakthrough for international tourism on the Coast."
And Cr McKay said the Hinterland would be one of the big winners.
"Nature based tourism is what the Chinese have told us they want and the Hinterland can offer this," Cr McKay said.
"And there are actually two applications in the works to help boost the appeal further.
"One is a zip line at Lake Baroon in Montville, it is before the state government at the moment.
"We actually went to Tasmania to look at a model for the zip line, it was very popular and had an environmentally friendly structure which is what we would need to create here."
The zip line would be a large version of a flying fox where visitors would be strapped in to a harness and would take a journey through the treetops to interspersed platforms high above the ground.
"The idea of having an adventure attraction like this, but still something anyone can ride, is to extend visitation to the Hinterland by at least four hours," Cr McKay said.
"Tourists can come, go for a walk, take the zip line and hopefully that will also equate to an overnight stay in the area, therefore feeding money into other businesses such as restaurants and cafes.
"Two local investors are very interested in this project so we will wait and see what the state government says.
"We are pushing hard for this and for a $1million upgrade to the Mary Cairncross Information centre.
"The wedding industry also has the potential to benefit from the relationships we are building in China.
"Eventually there will be the opportunity to offer packages to the Chinese and promote the Hinterland as a wedding destination as well."
