Cobar Shire Council’s Economic Taskforce recently met discussing options for Cobar Youth & Fitness Centre, local tourism and independent living matters.
During the meeting members inspected the Cobar Youth & Fitness Centre and discussed what activities take place each week and who uses the facility.
Attendees at the meeting also received a briefing on potential grants for the centre and what is envisaged for the centre’s future.
The meeting received a report outlining the boost Cobar has received in tourism this season. It was noted that for the months of May, June and July there was a 20 per cent increase in tourists to the Great Cobar Heritage Centre, up from 8,000 for three months the year before to 9,500 this year.
The report said an area of growth is the family market, and over the last five years family visitation has increased 60-70 per cent.
Evidence shows families are mainly coming from Sydney and are visiting outback NSW in preference to the coast as it is accessible for the holiday period and more affordable.
It was noted that facilities such as the skate park and the swimming pool could be promoted more to attract more families to visit.
Council’s tourism and public relations manager John Martin is keen to get a tourism focused website up and running in the coming months as there is a demand for more information from tourists.
Council’s director of corporate and ommunity services Kym Miller informed the committee of the tourism management plan which is being created and the key pillars of the plan.
It was noted that the economic taskforce needs to look at obtaining more funding from the NSW Government to promote Outback NSW.
The committee then moved on to discuss the status of independent living arrangements in Cobar and were given an update of the proposed Multi-Purpose Health Service and the processes planned for community consultation.
The committee will meet again in early December.
