Wollongong City Council will fund Tourism Wollongong for $1.5 million over the next five years after Council decided to enter into an expanded funding agreement.

The funding will allow Tourism Wollongong to provide destination marketing and visitor information services, city centre marketing and promotion, major events acquisition and business promotion.

Council Administrator Mr Richard Colley said the new funding agreement will see Tourism Wollongong continue with its successful program of promoting Wollongong as a destination.

“The agreement will enable Tourism Wollongong to enhance its current functions by integrating the promotion and marketing of the City Centre as well as working on acquiring major events for the city,” Mr Colley said. “This initiative is a good business decision and a great step forward for the city centre and will bring benefits across the city in the future.”

Tourism Wollongong’s Chairman Matt Davidson said: “Tourism Wollongong has been delivering visitor information and destination marketing for Wollongong for the past 30 years, with funding received from memberships and Wollongong City Council on an annual basis.

“This is an exciting time for the city and Tourism Wollongong as the integration of marketing services will create economies of scale and ultimately allow for more effective promotion of Wollongong as a destination.”

Wollongong City Centre Limited currently provides marketing and promotion services to the city centre through part of the Wollongong Mall Special Rate collected by Council each year. The revised arrangement with Tourism Wollongong will allow for a continuation of these key services to the city and ensure a smooth transition when funding to Wollongong City Centre Limited ceases in October this year.