Club Tourism Murray

During a week long celebration of tourism along the Murray River, Tourism Alliance revealed that the tourism industry employs over 3,500 people in that region. The Murray's Tourism Week was designed to focus wider community attention on the value and significance of toursm to the region. It included a packed program of events- workshops, hosted dinners, lunches, markets and familiarisation tours.

Tourism Alliance Victoria CEO, Nicholas Hunt was involved in the Mildura launch of Tourism Week at a popular event titled "Chefs of the Murray." The brainchild of celebrity Chef, Stephano Di Pieri, Chefs of the Murray celebrates food and wine and local talent from right across the Murray region. Apprentice Chefs from the local Sunraysia Institute of TAFE have the chance to work along side Stephano as he guides them in the preparation of the menu and the food and serving the guests.

The Tourism and Hospitality Committee of Swan Hill Inc. held their own Tourism Week launch where Tourism Alliance's Manager, Industry and Business Development, Bindi Gove presented some recently released industry research on the value of tourism not only to Swan Hill but all of the Local Government regions along the Murray. "Jobs in tourism are hard to visualise, they are not like jobs in mining where 4,000 workers all clock on at one site every day. Tourism jobs are spread throughout communities and are often imbedded in other sectors such as retail or cultural services," Ms Gove said. "Tourism is not the panacea for every region's ills, however it does add enormous value to local economies and is critical in the provision of a mixed and diverse local basket of industries."

Tourism Mildura CEO, Kaye Demmery was pleased with how Tourism Week unfolded. "We had good participation rates in all of the events," she said. "This is the first year for this event so we have the opportunity to build on it from here."