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Content Library Images, videos and editorial content showcasing destinations and experiences across Sydney and NSW.

Images, videos and editorial content showcasing destinations and experiences across Sydney and NSW.

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Destination NSW is the lead agency, champion and voice for the visitor economy within the NSW Government.

For NSW to be the premier visitor economy in the Asia Pacific by 2030

To deliver economic and social benefits to the people of nsw by growing the visitor economy.

Established under the Destination NSW Act 2011 as the lead Government agency for the NSW tourism and major events sector, Destination NSW’s charter is to achieve economic and social benefits for the people of NSW through the development of tourism and the securing of major events.

Destination NSW is governed by an independent chairman and a Board of Management. The Minister directs Destination NSW in accordance with the Destination NSW Act 2011 and the NSW Government is represented on the Board by the cluster Secretary.

Strategies & plans

Destination NSW’s strategy and planning is directed to promote the sustainable growth and development of the visitor economy in NSW.

Destination NSW was established as a statutory authority in July 2011 and brought together four organisations: Events NSW, Tourism NSW, the Homebush Motor Racing Authority and the Greater Sydney Partnership. The organisation is required to report to Parliament, the NSW Government and general community on its activities.

Destination Networks

The NSW Government established the Destination Networks in 2016, following a review of regional tourism, to improve regional stakeholder engagement and better support the visitor economy of regional NSW.

The Sunrise State

Destination NSW commissioned an artwork as a symbol of its enduring partnership with NATOC and an acknowledgement of the contribution Aboriginal culture makes to the growth and sustainability of the NSW visitor economy.

Our policies

The Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022 (PID Act) came into effect on 1 October 2023 and affects every public sector worker in NSW including non-government organisations that provide services for a government agency.

Effective governance relies on those who work in the NSW public sector (public officials) speaking up when they witness, or otherwise become aware of, wrongdoing in the public sector. Read more about the PID Policy below.

Access to Information

On 1 July 2010, new right to information legislation came into effect, replacing the former Freedom of Information law.

The new law:

• creates new rights to information that are designed to meet community expectations of more open and transparent government
• encourages government agencies to proactively release government information.

How can I access government information?

The four pathways open to you to access government information are:

• Mandatory Open Access Information
• Proactive Release
• GIPA Informal Request
• GIPA Formal Request

A valid formal application for access to information must:

• Be in writing
• State that it is made under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW)
• Have an Australian postal address for return correspondence
• Provide enough details to help Destination NSW identify the information the applicant wants
• Enclose the application fee of $30
• Complete and submit an application form

Information about the process, review rights and access to the application form is available on the Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) website .

If you require additional information or wish to lodge an access application, please contact us by emailing [email protected] or call 02 9931 1111.

You can also write to the:

Right to Information Officer Destination NSW Level 2, 88 Cumberland Street Sydney NSW 2000

Further information regarding lodging an access application is located in the Destination NSW Agency Information Guide  pages 9 and 10.

You can find out more about your right to information and new ways to access NSW Government information on the Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) website .

Our websites cover up-to-date information on the events and experiences in and around Sydney and regional NSW, suggestions on visitor itineraries, plenty of recommendations for activities, attractions and experiences industry news and resources.

Contact us for more information about marketing, partnerships, working with Destination NSW or industry advice.

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NSW names John Graham Minister for Jobs and Tourism

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Upper House MLC John Graham has been appointed NSW Minister for Jobs and Tourism, Minister for Arts, Minister for Music and the Night-Time Economy New South Wales.

The appointment has been welcomed by Tourism Accommodation Australia NSW CEO and acting CEO of the Accommodation Association, Michael Johnson, who said Graham brings a good understanding of the issues facing the sector.

“We welcome Mr Graham and congratulate him on his appointment,” Johnson said.

“We have worked with Mr Graham over many years through his roles in advocating for live music and revitalising the night-time economy in Sydney.

“He has a good understanding of the issues facing our sector and we look forward to working with him and his team, particularly in his portfolio of Jobs and Tourism.”

Johnson – the incoming CEO of soon-to-formed industry body Accommodation Australia – said the NSW accommodation sector is still in recovery mode.

“Our biggest issues are workforce and skills shortages and the shortage of affordable accommodation for staff, particularly in regions,” said Johnson.

“We also need to continue to work on ways to encourage international visitors back to our gateway city of Sydney, as the numbers arriving currently are far short of where they were pre-pandemic.”

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New tourism campaign ‘celebrates the people of New South Wales’

The new Destination NSW campaign is about “celebrating the people of New South Wales”, says NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment and Tourism, Stuart Ayres.

“This is about celebrating the people of New South Wales because any person who chooses to visit here wants to experience what we experience,” he said.

“And it also is a lovely reminder for us not to take this wonderful state for granted.

“It’s an opportunity for people to travel around their own state, travel in their own city and say to people right across Australia that the door is open, we’ve got a big smile on our face and we want to welcome you to come and feel NSW the same way that we experience it.”

Mr Ayres said the campaign is a “gamechanger” for the state’s tourism industry and will ensure businesses know they are “completely supported” by the NSW government during the pandemic recovery.

Destination NSW welcomes two board members

Minister for Tourism Ben Franklin has announced two new appointments to the Destination NSW Board. Founder of Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation Clark Webb and Chair of Regional Development Australia Sydney Anna Guillan AM have been appointed for three-year terms.

Mr Franklin said the appointments would complement the experience of the existing Board members.

“I am thrilled to welcome Clark Webb and Anna Guillan AM to the Destination NSW Board who will both bring extensive experience to the positions,” Mr Franklin said.

“As a tourism operator and Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung man, Clark will bring a crucial new perspective and make an invaluable contribution to the continued growth of the NSW visitor economy.

“Anna brings expertise in destination marketing and regional development and will be invaluable in ensuring the continued growth of the regional NSW visitor economy.”

Mr Webb currently holds Board positions with the NSW Aboriginal Languages Trust and NSW Aboriginal Tourism Operators Council. Ms Guillan has held Board positions with Tourism Australia, Tourism and Events Queensland and the Australian Tourism Export Council. 

Mr Webb said he was looking forward to contributing to the growth of the NSW visitor economy.

“ Strategising the growth of cultural eco-tourism will be central to my focus as a Destination NSW board member,” he said. 

“Tourism is a vehicle that can support cultural revitalisation in our communities. I aim to bring a unique grassroots perspective on how to combine cultural, ecological and economic sustainability to benefit the whole sector.”

Ms Guillan said she was looking forward to positioning the visitor economy for future success, particularly in regional NSW.

“NSW is full of iconic and authentic visitor experiences, venues and events . Regional NSW is the largest, most diverse regional economy in Australia and is the lifeblood of many communities,” Ms Guillan said.

Mr Webb and Ms Guillan will join Chair Sally Loane, Deputy Chair Russell Balding AO and directors Steve Cox, Anne Loveridge, Rod McGeoch AO, The Hon. George Souris AM, Emma Hogan and Elizabeth Mildwater on the Destination NSW board.

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2024 ministers' diary disclosures

• NSW Premier (PDF 226.02KB)
• NSW Treasurer (PDF 222.18KB)
• Attorney General (PDF 190.91KB)
• Deputy Premier, Minister for Education and Early Learning and Minister for Western Sydney (PDF 213.86KB)
• Minister for Regional Transport and Roads (PDF 233.93KB)
• Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism and Minister for the Hunter (PDF 186.29KB)
• Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Minister for Building and Minister for Corrections (PDF 221.13KB)
• Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Work Health and Safety (PDF 191.67KB)
• Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government, Minister for Emergency Services and Minister for Youth Justice (PDF 175.47KB)
• Special Minister of State, Minister for Roads, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy and Minister for Jobs and Tourism (PDF 263.85KB)
• Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Minister for Gaming and Racing, Minister for Veterans, Minister for Medical Research and Minister for the Central Coast (PDF 194.69KB)
• Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (PDF 196.59KB)
• Minister for Transport (PDF 192.45KB)
• Minister for Local Government (PDF 189.66KB)
• Minister for Finance, Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement and Minister for Natural Resources (PDF 197.66KB)
• Minister for Water, Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Youth and Minister for the North Coast (PDF 276.32KB)
• Minister for Small Business, Minister for Lands and Property, Minister for Multiculturalism and Minister for Sport (PDF 244.3KB)
• Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW (PDF 214.55KB)
• Minister for Health, Minister for Regional Health and Minister for the Illawarra and the South Coast (PDF 196.02KB)
• Minister for Planning and Public Spaces (PDF 211.04KB)
• Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Heritage (PDF 204.3KB)
• Minister for Families and Communities and Minister for Disability Inclusion (PDF 201.39KB)
• Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education (PDF 196.52KB)

Ministers' diary disclosures by year

• 2023 ministers' diary disclosures
• 2022 ministers' diary disclosures
• 2021 ministers' diary disclosures
• 2020 ministers' diary disclosures
• 2019 ministers' diary disclosures

At ‘vast, remote’ Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, unwritten rules for tourists may soon become real restrictions

A new plan may stop tourists who visit the enormous salt pan 700km north of Adelaide from driving or walking on sacred ground – or into trouble

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When Bronwyn Dodd looks out across Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, an expanse covering almost 1,000 sq km in the middle of a national park, she thinks of home.

It’s a place both sacred and dangerous, she says, which is why there’s a plan to stop people walking on the lake bed without permission.

“I think of the place my father, my grandparents and all those that came before have walked, lived, hunted, survived,” the chair of the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation says.

“In such a vast, remote landscape it’s very grounding to think our people have survived there for thousands of years.

“I also reflect on water. Water is very sacred to us. My elders often tell me: ‘without water, there is no life’.”

Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, about 700km north of Adelaide, is an enormous salt pan – until the floods creep through it, bringing colour and life.

There’s a small flood every few years, a big one once a decade, and the lake fills up about once every 25 years as water from the Lake Eyre Basin – which spreads across Queensland, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and South Australia – drains into it.

Overlaying it are the Arabana’s dreaming stories, their knowledge, their songs and traditions – their Ularaka. There are culturally significant mound springs, dreaming stories associated with the underlying Great Artesian Basin. There are totemic species, alongside bush tucker and traditional medicines.

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But the lake also attracts tourists, who sometimes stray from the paths in their cars or by foot. A draft management plan aims to stop that, and to keep tourists to specific viewing platforms and on specific tracks around the lake bed. There’ll be exemptions for scientific research and commercial filming and photography.

Swimming, driving and boating are already restricted. Those restrictions will be extended to walking on the lake bed if the plan goes ahead.

“It’s actually quite dangerous for them to [walk on the lake bed],” Dodd says.

“You can sink knee-deep in it.”

The notion has brought a predictable reaction from some who compare it to the ban on climbing Uluru, or Mount Warning in NSW and foment fear about non-Indigenous exclusion.

Local publican and tourism operator Trevor Wright says there’s no comparison.

For a start, he says, the ban will have no effect on tourists at all.

“Zero,” he says.

“It’s been an unwritten rule for the last 20 years that you don’t go out on the lake – you don’t go boating. It’s very shallow, and huge, and with winds you could end up anywhere.”

And you wouldn’t go swimming once the floods come.

“That lake is 12.5 times saltier than seawater and two-and-a-half times saltier than the Dead Sea. It’ll burn the hell out of your membranes. And under the salt crust there’s black slimy clay that utterly stinks and is full of crystallised gypsum, like glass – it’ll cut your legs open.

“And people think they can drive on it … You go and pull a vehicle out of there. It’s a big job.”

Never mind getting lost.

Wright says the views of the shimmering salt pan or the flood-driven transformation are best from the shoreline or from the air, and that he hopes there’ll be better infrastructure and signage to help tourists get there.

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Dodd agrees there’s “nothing new”, just a strengthening of the existing rules to stop people tramping on sacred ground and walking into trouble.

“We want to share our country with the world. We’re just asking people to protect it,” she says. The land was entrusted to the Arabana, and they have a responsibility to both protect it and educate people about it.

“It’s not about locking people out,” she says.

“We’re definitely not banning people. Just stick to the tracks that have been there for a very long time.”

On top of the cultural considerations, the area is home to rare species, including the black-breasted buzzard and the yellow-bellied sheath-tailed bat. The Lake Eyre dragon is one of a number of endemic vertebrates, and when those waters come through, the floods are a major breeding event for birds.

Northern Territory senator and Indigenous affairs shadow minister, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, was asked about the situation along with other restrictions on access including at Uluru and Mount Warning in NSW.

“We’re locking the place up,” she told 2GB’s Ben Fordham. Indigenous culture had “almost become the new religion”, she said.

The South Australian opposition leader, David Speirs, said if the changes were “to protect biodiversity or people’s safety” he would accept the changes easily, but was scathing about doing it for the Arabana people.

“I don’t like seeing mythology and superstition blended with science … if there’s any area where there are songlines or particular stories and lore from Aboriginal people that will be impacted by visitors, I would have to have a significant level of confidence that was the case before seeing the community locked out of places,” he said.

Consultation on the plan is open till 19 July.

The state’s water and environment minister, Susan Close, says visitors can still enjoy the park and the views from the air or designated visitor areas.

“The proposal for visitors not to enter a sacred cultural site is made both in recognition and respect for Arabana culture, and to ensure the safety of visitors,” she says.

“The Australian desert environment is extremely harsh, particularly on the white salt lake where it’s easy to lose your sense of direction and get lost.”

Dodd is disappointed at false claims that people will be banned from the park or from visiting the lake.

“We’d love to have more people out there, to share our culture and have more hands-on experiences,” she says.

“You don’t have to walk on the lake to get that.”

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Minister for Sport

The hon steve kamper mp.

Minister for Small Business Minister for Lands and Property Minister for Multiculturalism Minister for Sport  

Steve Kamper will be serving the 58 th Parliament as the Minister for Small Business Minister for Lands and Property, Minister for Multiculturalism, and Minister for Sport. Steve grew up in the St George area and went to Sans Souci Public and James Cook Boys Technology High. After school, he began working in his father’s accountancy firm, which he ran successfully with his brother in Rockdale for 30 years, earning the trust of many local families and businesses. An accountant and businessman, Steve has worked in both public and private sectors, having founded multiple successful business including Coverforce, Australia’s largest privately owned insurance broker. An avid fan of the St. George Dragons, Steve has been heavily involved in sport throughout his career, including a stint as President of Sydney Olympic Football Club. Steve and his wife Magda raised their five children Sydney’s south, and are currently proud grandparents to eight grandchildren with another on the way.

Contact details 

The Hon. Stephen Kamper MP GPO Box 5341 SYDNEY NSW 2001

Email: Contact the Minister

For more information, visit the NSW Parliament website .

WA government to subsidise Broome-Kununurra flights, more routes linking Perth and far north

The WA government has announced new subsidised flights to and across the state's far north to reduce the cost of travel for residents and tourists.

The government's Affordable Airfares Program will subsidise Airnorth and Nexus Airlines flights between Broome and Kununurra for the first time, with fares to be capped at $199 one way.

The scheme aims to improve regional flight affordability for residents and attract more visitors amid the cost of living crisis.

Funding has also been extended to Virgin Australia and Qantas, which already offer capped fares for residents between Perth and Exmouth, Broome and Kununurra.

News of the expansion comes as regional carrier Bonza cancels flights across the east coast and faces questions over its future and viability.

Since the scheme began six years ago, more than 200,000 capped airfares have been flown in WA.

Last year, services from Perth to Exmouth, Broome and Kununurra sold nearly 29,000 tickets.

Boost to Kimberley residents

Nexus flights between regional WA towns commenced in July 2023 , ending Air North's monopoly on many routes.

However, the additional carrier has also led to business being split between the two airlines, raising questions around the long-term sustainability of both companies operating on a route with limited customers.

The ABC reported in November 2023 that Nexus and Airnorth were caught in a price battle in the attempt to attract customers to travel across the Kimberley and to Darwin.

Reports of certain flights operating with as few as 10 passengers led to aviation expert Tim Collins questioning how long the airlines could operate while suffering a potential financial loss.

WA Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti said the government was pleased to be able to support the airlines and provide cost-of-living relief to Kimberley residents.

"With a state as vast as ours, air travel is an important form of transport for tourists as well as regional residents," she said.

"We're really proud to be delivering the Affordable Airfares Program for another year, which will potentially save travellers hundreds of dollars, encourage them to explore our incredible regions and help support our regional tourism operators."

'A really positive thing'

Australia's North West tourism chief executive Bill Tatchell said the cheaper airfares would entice people to travel to regional areas.

"Without these kind of fares available it's cost prohibitive, particularly in today's world," he said.

"So we really do need – and we're very grateful that we have – the opportunity to encourage people in today's economic climate to come to our region."

Mr Tatchell said the cheaper tickets between Broome and Kununurra would provide more access to tourism within the Kimberley.

"It gives people the realistic opportunity and affordable price to head off to Kununurra for a weekend and engage with things that normally a 10-hour drive each way prohibits you from doing," he said.

Pilbara absence a 'punch in the guts'

Not included in the program are flights to major towns in the Pilbara, such as Karratha and Port Hedland.

For Pilbara Tourism Association president Barry Harrison, the snub reflects an unfair perception that the region is just a mining area.

"It's a punch in the guts, it really is," Mr Harrison said.

"We've got probably the best national park in Australia at our doorstep in Karijini, and some of the oldest rock art in the world, yet [the] government is still not helping subsidise flights for tourism here."

Mr Harrison revealed the Pilbara Tourism Association has previously sent complaints to the state government about the scheme.

"[We have] again lodged an objection that," he said.

"We're being left behind."

New regional airline welcomes support

Nexus Airlines managing director Michael McConachy said the subsidy would allow residents to explore their backyard.

"We haven't seen fares in the Kimberley like this for many, many years, I've never seen them before — so I think this is a really positive thing," he said.

"To bring the cost of travel down … to assist the region, I'm certainly keen to see that happen with these lower cost fares."

An Airnorth spokesperson said the subsidised flights were perfectly timed for the impending dry season.

"The Kimberley region holds a special place in the heart of Airnorth, having been an integral part of our network for over two decades," they said.

"This initiative underscores our commitment to serving the Kimberley community and making air travel more affordable and convenient for all."

Subsidised flights between Broome and Kununurra will be available between May 1 and August 31, with 4,880 seats on offer.

The news follows Jetstar's announcement that direct flights between Broome and Singapore are set to commence in June.

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