Local business and tourism operators were given the opportunity to find out how the Cobar Visitor Information Centre and the Cobar Museum works during ‘A Night at the Museum’ information night last Wednesday.
Tourism staff members spoke about their roles and how they greet and encourage visitors to stop, stay and look around Cobar.
Council’s special projects officer Miranda Riley explained that the Great Cobar Heritage Centre is not only a museum, but also acts as Cobar’s Visitor Information Centre.
“Our information centre is a Level 1 accredited centre, which is the highest possible.
“We need to adhere to a set of state guidelines set by The Tourism Group to ensure there is a continual high level of quality service and information given to all visitors,” Ms Riley explained.
The centre is open 363 days of each year and receives approximately 24,000 to 25,000 visitors per year.
“The centre provides unbiased information about all of our local businesses. What we lack is up to date and detailed information.
“We need this from local businesses to ensure we give consistent, accurate information,” Ms Riley said.
Cobar Shire Council’s general manager Peter Vlatko attended last week’s information session and praised the information centre staff on their proactive approach to encouraging local businesses to help in the promotion of our town.
“We are now taking a bigger interest in tourism and marketing,” Mr Vlatko said.
He said after recently joining the Far North West Joint Organisation (JO), the three councils that make up the JO (Cobar, Bourke and Walgett) will now collectively have an extra $5million in funding to promote tourism in a more strategic way.
“We have $5million to use and we will need people like yourself, businesses, locals and the council to get together and make sure we hit the target because you don’t get that sort of an opportunity too often,” Mr Vlatko said.
