New Orange360 GM eyes emerging opportunities for tourism growth

close to her heart.

“About 6 or 7 years ago, we moved the family out of Sydney and it kind of felt like coming home,” said Ned, who was working for multinational agribusiness institution Rabobank at the time.

“Coming back to Orange was just a great opportunity to be able to work remotely from Sydney.”

Prior to her role with Rabobank, Ned worked for Ruby Australia, managing their corporate hospitality and sponsorship programs.

“I have always been in and around the space of marketing and sponsorship and events management — Primarily marketing and promoting events to sell tickets and reach customers, but also marketing brands through events,” said Ned.

“Being able to work and head up Orange360, which has a very strong base and has achieved a lot of growth in the last five years with Caddie [former general manager Caddie Marshall] at the helm is an opportunity that I was very excited about.”

While COVID lockdowns and travel restrictions of the past few years hit the tourism industry hard, for Orange the silver lining was that more people started to explore their own backyards, said Ned.

The next challenge for Orange360, she said, will be consolidating that visitor growth and keep giving people a reason to come explore Orange and the central west. “There are opportunities to grow more, really to be able to drive the festivals that are established,” she said. “The challenges are how do we make those bigger? How can we accommodate more people in the town? How can we use those festivals, use what we have here, the fabulous food and wine, how do we use all those products, all those tourism opportunities to really lift the reputation of Orange as an Australian destination, not just an NSW destination.”

Food and wine have long formed the main thrust of Orange’s tourism promotion and it is still an area for which there is strong demand: Tickets for 2023 F.O.O.D. Week signature events — Forage and the Sampson Street Long Lunch — sold out in just 16 minutes.

But Ned said there are also new opportunities and markets that have the potential to draw people to Orange and more importantly, give people reasons to keep coming back

“There’s a lot of emerging tourism activities in this area that are growing… the art and culture in the region has emerged and is growing our reputation for worldwide exhibitions like at the regional art gallery at the moment. It is something that we really need to capitalise on,” she said.

“Cycling is another huge industry that is very popular and growing in which we have a lot of ability to tap into that market as well.

“You always lead with your greatest strength and our food and wine was the first established and it is still very strong… We have about 30-something cellar doors in Orange and a number of good restaurants, but you can’t do all of them when you come.

“So it’s about making people realise that there’s something new every time.”