News & Media

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.

The Generation Trends report looked at four generational groups: Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and baby boomers.

Brand Watch has analysed millions of social media conversations to understand how each generation is shaping—and reacting to—trends in travel.

The consumer intelligence and marketing software platform’s The Generation Trends report looked at four generational groups: Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and baby boomers.

Brand Watch analysed social media mentions between 1 January 2024 and 31 March 2025.

Western Australians are now able to fly straight into Newcastle to experience everything the Hunter region has to offer.

Newcastle Airport’s direct Perth to Newcastle route has launched, improving access to and from regional NSW.

The three-times weekly service, operated by a 150-seat QantasLink Airbus A319, will contribute to the delivery of extra aviation capacity while making travel easier and faster to the Hunter.

Newcastle Airport CEO Linc Horton said the route would inject $21.7 million into the regional economy each year and create 74 new local jobs.

The NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2035 was launched last week – a transformative roadmap to drive more jobs, stronger communities and a thriving visitor economy for the people of NSW.

The Strategy will guide collaboration between government and industry over the next decade, ensuring NSW is well placed to capture future opportunities and growth.

Thank you to Minister for Jobs and Tourism the Hon Steve Kamper MP, Destination NSW Chairman Sally Loane AM, CEO Karen Jones, and our industry leaders – Margy Osmond, Natalie Turmine, Dean Long, Stuart Ayres, Daniel Hunter and Paul Nicolaou – for their contributions at the launch.