News & Media

The NSW Government has taken an important step in supporting Newcastle Airport to become a global gateway when its upgraded international terminal opens in 2025.

The government’s tourism and events agency Destination NSW has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Newcastle Airport to help the airport secure agreements with airlines for new international and domestic routes.

This agreement makes available financial support to Newcastle Airport from the Aviation Attraction Fund for a two-year period from when new routes commence. The funding package includes route incentives for airlines and strategic marketing support.

Sensory Tourism Australia has worked with local tour businesses across Port Stephens to develop an engaging itinerary for blind and low-vision travellers. The itinerary generates excitement, creates repeat visitation, and improves confidence in local businesses to embrace inclusive tourism.

The Export-Ready Tourism Marketing Strategy (the Strategy) has been prepared as part of the Hunter Global Tourism Strategic Business Case, a partnership project between Destination Sydney Surrounds North, Newcastle Airport and lead by Hunter Joint  Organisation. The Hunter JO represents ten Local Government Areas (LGAs) and facilitates projects that deliver regional benefits. The member Councils are the City of Newcastle, Port Stephens, Upper Hunter Shire, Muswellbrook Shire, Dungog Shire, Cessnock City (Hunter Valley), Singleton Shire (Hunter Valley), Lake Macquarie City, MidCoast and Maitland City. For the purpose of this strategy, we have referred to the Hunter JO region as the Hunter Region.

The inaugural Bar Awards are happening in Newcastle on Monday, August 5, 2024. Presented by HUNTERhunter, Newcastle’s leading digital publication that has been supporting the local hospitality industry since 2013, Bar Awards will further elevate the owners, bartenders, mixologists, and brewers who are moving Newcastle’s drink culture forward. Bar Awards will bring together those who energise the city’s bar and drink scene, championing a standard of quality drinks and service anchored in talent, craftsmanship, and diversity.

This planning proposal relates to land at 1 Wild Duck Drive and 2 Lorikeet Loop, Cams Wharf. The site is zoned SP3 Tourism and contains an existing approved mixed-use tourism facility. The planning proposal seeks to enable an enhanced tourism outcome on the site by increasing the maximum building height on part of the site. Provisions are included in the planning proposal to facilitate a predominantly tourism outcome.

Get ready to witness the Central Coast skies coming alive with breathtaking aerobatics, vintage historic warbird displays and adrenaline-pumping performances as the Central Coast Airshow prepares for take off 25 and 26 May 2024.

This year’s event at Central Coast Airport, Warnervale promises to be a spectacular celebration of aviation, showcasing a lineup of world-class performers that will leave aviation enthusiasts, families and the community on the edge of their seats.

Layer on the decadence. QT Newcastle’s Executive Chef, Shayne Mansfield welcomes Dessert King, Reece Hignell of Cakeboi, into the kitchen to create an indulgent high tea, QTea, any way you slice it.

QT Hotels & Resorts has long pioneered the philosophy of ‘expect the unexpected’, and that’s exactly what guests can expect with these two Novocastrian talents in tow. Served in QT Newcastle’s signature restaurant, Jana, the two-course affair features a mix of sweet and savoury dishes and promises tiers, trolleys and an appetite for the unconventional. Guests will work their way through tiered savouries by QT Newcastle’s award-winning chef, and can expect delicacies including charcoal bread, duck leg croquette plus the merguez sausage pie, Shayne’s take on a traditional pie

A world-class new motorsport park and resort in Lake Macquarie is set to create hundreds of jobs and set benchmarks for the reuse of a former mine site.

The $95 million Black Rock Motor Resort at Wakefield will include a 5.25km driving circuit, luxury accommodation, driver training, a function centre, cafe and go-kart track.

Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser, Natural Resources Minister Courtney Houssos, Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley and Black Rock CEO Tony Palmer turned the sod on the 252ha site on Tuesday morning, marking the start of a three-year construction project

The Broken Bay Akoya pearl oyster is a first for NSW, recently certified edible pearl oyster set to hit the domestic market. With its NSW operations at the Broken Bay Pearl Farm, Pearls of Australia is all about creating immersive customer experiences.

We are thrilled to share news of the expansion of our fleet, an exciting development both for CoastXP and for sustainable tourism in Lake Macquarie. Introducing our new vessel, Hydro! Launching on the 1st of February 2024, Hydro accommodates up to 12 guests and will complement our 20-guest flagship boat, Atmos. This further enhances our ability to provide exceptional experiences in both Newcastle and Lake Macquarie – While Atmos will continue to operate primarily from Newcastle, Hydro will be based in Lake Macquarie full-time and will allow us to offer entirely new ecotourism activities in the Lake. As a local ecotourism business deeply committed to our community, we take great pride in this significant milestone, both for CoastXP and for our shared vision of growing Lake Macquarie as a sustainable tourism destination.

The NSW Government is delivering on its commitment to provide additional support to wildlife hospitals, koala protection and research with more than $3.5 million in new funding provided to three regional wildlife care facilities.

Destination NSW this week launched a fresh approach to growing the business events sector in regional NSW at the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME) in Melbourne, with new messaging aligned to its ‘Feel New’ visitor brand.

Showcasing immersive visitor experiences in regional NSW, the new ‘Corporate events that feel anything but’ positioning presents an engaging alternative to the traditional business event experience.

Since the release of the 20-Year Economic Vision for Regional NSW in July 2018, our regional communities have faced a series of challenges in the form of drought, bushfres, foods and the COVID-19 pandemic. These events have taken a signifcant toll on regional industries, jobs, families and individuals but there are already clear signs of recovery in our regions. Housing demand in regional NSW rose in the second half of 2020 and an estimated 17 million tonnes of grain will be harvested over the 2020-21 summer harvest.

More than 1500 mountain bike riders, including some of the sport’s top athletes, will descend on Lake Macquarie in March for the GWM Mountain Bike National Championships. Held for the first time in the Awaba Mountain Bike Park at the foot of the Watagan Mountains, the Championships will run 12-17 March and include downhill, adaptive, cross-country and pump track disciplines. The venue is no stranger to large-scale competition, having hosted numerous downhill and cross-country National Series races over the past decade. But AusCycling CEO Marne Fechner said the 2024 Championships would be bigger and better than any previous contest staged at Awaba, with more than 1500 riders across all age categories, including world-class athletes bound for the 2024 Paris Olympics and UCI World Championships

Reflections Jimmys Beach has been named Holiday Park of the Year (more than 100 sites) at the Caravan and Camping Industry Association NSW’s 2023 awards at a gala event in Barangaroo, Sydney.

On Worimi Country an hour north of Newcastle in the picturesque village of Hawks Nest, Jimmys Beach Reflections is operated by Reflections Holiday Parks, a Crown Land Manager which reinvests profit into the nature reserves and parks it cares for on behalf of the NSW public, and the only holiday park group in Australia that is a certified social enterprise.