News & Media

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners in the Event Venues category at the NSW Tourism Awards 2025.

NSW Tourism Association announced the winners at a gala celebration at Waterview in Bicentennial Park, Sydney – recognising outstanding commitment to excellence.

International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) took home Gold, Silver went to Crowne Plaza Terrigal Pacific, while Bronze was awarded to Mantra On Salt Beach.

Driving growth through business events is a key pillar of the NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2035 and these world-class venues will ensure NSW continues to dominate the sector.

Jetstar has launched its new Hobart-Newcastle route, with the connection set to boost tourism across both cities.

There will be three weekly return services linking the Hunter and Hobart until 21 April 2026, operated by Jetstar’s A320 fleet and providing more than 22,000 new low-cost seats on the route this season.

It comes six weeks after Jetstar restarted international flying from Newcastle, offering four flights a week to Bali (Denpasar) and connections to Singapore.

The latest Tourism Research Australia data shows NSW is Australia’s number one destination for agritourism visitors, nights and expenditure.

In the year ending December 2024, there were 5.3 million trips to NSW involving agritourism, with 13 per cent from overseas, 51 per cent from domestic overnight visitors and 36 per cent from domestic day trip visitors.

There were 4.6 million domestic overnight and day trip agritourism visitors during the period, up 6.7 per cent year-on-year. These visitors stayed 8.4 million nights and spent $3.6 billion, up 1.9 per cent year-on-year.

The top three NSW destinations for domestic travellers were the Hunter Valley, North Coast and South Coast

NSW Tourism Association has announced the winners of the 2025 NSW Tourism Awards at a gala celebration at Waterview in Bicentennial Park, Sydney – recognising outstanding commitment to tourism excellence.

Gold, silver and bronze awards were presented across 30 categories, celebrating excellence in business practices, visitor experiences and sustainability.

In total, 78 winners were presented from 125 finalists, marking one of the largest and most competitive awards in recent years.

Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia (UWEA) has welcomed Mount Pleasant Wines in NSW’s Hunter Valley to its hand-selected wine tourism collective.

One of the Hunter Valley’s most iconic and historic wineries, Mount Pleasant was founded in 1921 by Maurice O’Shea, who is widely regarded as the father of modern Australian winemaking for his pioneering approach to table wines, meticulous blending techniques and use of French oak, at a time when fortified wines dominated the market.

Jetstar’s Denpasar (Bali)-Newcastle service will connect with its Singapore-Denpasar service from late March.

Within weeks of Newcastle Airport’s inaugural flight to Bali, Jetstar has responded to exceptionally high demand from across the Hunter region by adding a fourth weekly service to the route and enabling travellers to continue through to Singapore, creating a new international gateway for the Hunter, Central Coast and Mid North Coast.

From 29 March 2026, Jetstar will operate direct services between Newcastle and Bali (JQ88) on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with all four weekly Jetstar flights to continue on to Singapore, via a 90-minute stop in Denpasar.

This new schedule will take Newcastle Airport to 96,512 seats annually on the Bali route, unlocking an additional 24,000 low fare connections.

Travellers from Singapore will be able to seamlessly fly to Newcastle with a 90-minute layover in Bali, opening a single-ticket gateway into the Hunter.

Jetstar has announced that its Denpasar (Bali)-Newcastle service, which took off for the first time on 21 October 2025, will connect with its Singapore-Denpasar service from late March.

Travellers from Singapore will be able to seamlessly fly to Newcastle with a 90-minute layover in Bali, opening a single-ticket gateway into the Hunter from Singapore for the first time.

Jetstar’s first-ever direct flight from Bali to Newcastle took off last month, marking a major milestone for the Hunter region.

Newcastle Airport’s first international flight outside Australasia has landed, with the route between the Hunter and Denpasar (Bali) commencing on 21 October 2025. Supported by the NSW Government’s Aviation Attraction Fund, delivered by Destination NSW, the new route follows the recent opening of the airport’s international terminal.

The flight is a full-circle moment for both the airport and the airline. Jetstar operated its very first commercial service from Newcastle in 2004 and now becomes the airline to lead Newcastle into its international future.

Football Australia is thrilled to announce that the CommBank Matildas will host New Zealand, the Football Ferns, for a two-match series during the November/December FIFA Women’s International Window.

Thanks to the support of the New South Wales Government through its tourism and major events authority, Destination NSW, the CommBank Matildas will kick off the series at polytec Stadium, Gosford, on Friday 28 November 2025 (7:30pm AEDT), taking on Oceania’s strongest team.

The NSW Government’s Aviation Attraction Fund (AAF) will support a brand-new seasonal flight from Hobart to Newcastle, connecting the two cities directly for the first time.

On 2 December 2025, Jetstar will launch the seasonal route, which will operate three times a week from December to April, a link that will give Tasmanians direct access to NSW’s second biggest city.

The route will unlock access to new visitors for Newcastle and the Hunter, providing a boost for businesses and jobs throughout the region’s visitor economy.

Marking one of the biggest infrastructure moments for the Hunter Region and NSW, Newcastle Airport last night officially opened its new international terminal with more than 300 guests and passengers gathering for a milestone moment featuring a spectacular RAAF flyby and a proud celebration of Hunter culture.

Around 300 guests including dignitaries, industry leaders and community representatives proudly gathered to celebrate the expanded terminal which opens the Hunter to the world, enhances international connectivity and stands as a symbol of the region’s growth, ambition and capability.

Restaurants, cafés and caterers from across NSW have celebrated the 2025 Restaurant & Catering Hostplus Awards for Excellence.

This year’s event at Doltone House, Sydney, drew a record crowd of more than 600 attendees, making it the largest gathering in the program’s history in NSW.

The Awards are the hospitality industry’s premier program, recognising exceptional service, food quality, and venue standards across the state.

Congratulations to The Cottage in Scone, Trinity 8 in Lake Macquarie and Newcastle City Hall – all of whom won an award this year.

NSW has cemented its position as Australia’s number one visitor economy, leading the nation in visitors, nights and expenditure in the financial year ending June 2025, according to Tourism Research Australia (TRA).

The results align with the NSW Government’s ambitious NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2035, which sets targets of $91 billion in annual visitor expenditure, 40,400 new accommodation rooms, 8.5 million new airline seats and 150,000 additional jobs by 2035.

Muswellbrook Shire will enjoy a half-day public holiday on Tuesday, 4 November, to cap an unprecedented series of events to wine, dine and thrill visitors and locals in their thousands.

Muswellbrook Shire Council can confirm NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Sophie Cotsis MP, has endorsed a local public holiday from midday to 6pm on the first Tuesday in November, capping a mammoth five days for the Shire, beginning with the Blue Heeler Film Festival opening night in Denman.

NSW represented the largest market share of revenue and attendance among all states and territories.

New data from Live Performance Australia (LPA) shows NSW is the nation’s live entertainment capital.

LPA’s 2024 Live Performance Attendance and Revenue Report reveals NSW represented the largest market share of revenue (36.2 per cent) and attendance (32.4 per cent) among all states and territories.

NSW recorded the highest growth in revenue (+16.3 per cent to $1.2 billion) and second-highest growth in attendance (+10.9 per cent to 10.2 million) between 2023 and 2024. These results are the highest ever recorded in NSW.