It has been an eventful month on the world stage and the ramifications are hitting the bottom lines of business and hip pockets of consumers.
We are all nervously watching ongoing developments in the Middle East as fuel prices continue to rise, sending shock waves all along the supply chain.
At the time of writing, there was no resolution in sight, but even an end to the conflict will not bring immediate relief.
Through our state affiliate Business NSW, we continue to liaise closely with government on solutions to lessen the impact on business, which will in turn keep cost pressures down for all of us.
Some better news for the region with the announcement in March that the NSW Government is investing heavily in train building by establishing new production lines at the Downer facility at Cardiff for its $447 million program to update the Tangara trains.
The investment will create 100 new local jobs and 20 apprenticeships, reinforcing the Hunter’s reputation as a centre of manufacturing excellence and ensuring critical skills are retained and grown.
On a more sentimental level, it is great to see the traditional stronghold of train-building re-emerging as a regional industry strength.
Tourism has huge growth potential in the Hunter and, in March, we convened an event to look at just how that opportunity might be realised.
The NSW Visitor Economy Strategy aims to grow annual visitor expenditure to a whopping $91 billion by 2035.
So, we invited Destination NSW CEO Karen Jones here to tell us what role she sees the Hunter playing in delivering the 40,000 new hotel rooms, 8.5 million extra airline seats,150,000 additional jobs and vast portfolio of new event and experience-led tourism offerings that will be needed to achieve the goal.
The strong message from the 200 industry leaders and supporters in the room was that the region is up for the task.
For more business stories:
- Maitland council simplifies outdoor dining rules
- Newcastle takes off with first Singapore flight
- Hunter urged to back renewable gas
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