The NSW Government has taken the next step in its commitment to invest $149.5 million to improve the State’s national parks by calling for construction workers to register their interest to work on the iconic parks.
Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean said an Expression of Interest process had commenced through National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS), seeking construction workers and businesses to register for the work.
“We’ve got some of the world’s best and most significant national parks right here in NSW and I’m inviting the best of the construction industry to help make them even better. This will create local jobs, support local business and boost regional economies,” Mr Kean said.
Selected applicants will renew walking tracks; enhance visitor information and experiences, facilities and accessibility at national parks across the State.
The call for construction workers follows new data that reveals a 16.6% increase on estimated visitors to national parks across NSW last year.
“NSW national parks are the ticket for tourism in our own backyard,”
“A whopping 60 million Australians visited NSW national parks in 2018, compared to 51.77 million in 2016,” Mr Kean said.
The most popular parks for Australians in 2018 were:
- Blue Mountains National Park with 8.43 million visits
- Royal National Park with 6.08 million visits
- Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park with 3.90 million visits
- Kosciuszko National Park with 3.27 million visits
- Sydney Harbour National Park with 2.42 million visits
Jervis Bay, Bouddi, Myall Lakes and Garigal ranked among the top ten most visited parks.
“Half of the parks in the most-visited list are in regional NSW. We want that figure to keep growing and make sure people are seeing the beauty of our regions,” Mr Kean said.
The results come from the 2018 Parks Visitor Survey, conducted every two years since 2008 by Roy Morgan Research. Read the full survey.
