Penrith Valley goes for gold

Penrith Valley’s outstanding attractions have an information centre to match with the Penrith Valley Visitor Information Centre announced as a finalist in the 2011 NSW Tourism Awards.
The centre will compete for the title of Best Visitor and Information Services in NSW at the awards evening on 17 November.
Penrith City Mayor Greg Davies said it was an opportunity to promote our tourism success.
“The staff and volunteers at Penrith Valley Visitor Information Centre provide exceptional customer service 363 days a year. I’m sure we’ll all be crossing our fingers on the awards night to see Penrith Valley rightfully recognised as the place to be,” Councillor Davies said.
Finalists in the same category are regional visitor centres from Bathurst, Port Macquarie, Lismore & Nimbin, Lithgow and Wollongong.
The NSW Tourism Awards recognise outstanding tourism businesses and organisations throughout the state. To find out more visit www.nswtourismawards.com.au.
caption: Photo of the Penrith Valley Visitor Information Centtre.

Penrith Brand Strategy – Have your say!

Penrith City Council, the Penrith business community and the NSW government all share a vision for a Penrith of the future which will have an enhanced role as a major regional city within Greater Sydney.
“To achieve this Penrith will need new jobs and investment and more visitors and to attract these we need to have a positive brand image,” said Penrith City Council City Marketing Supervisor Paul Page. “As a result, Council has set a goal to develop a more positive brand image and in July engaged Generation Alliance (Gen.a) to develop a comprehensive strategy to improve Penrith’s brand image.
“I urge anyone who is reading this to complete a survey which can be accessed via the following link - http://comedge.com.au/survey/index.php?sid=43111&lang=en,” said Mr Page. “We (Council) are very interested in understanding the greater community’s thoughts and considerations. The survey only takes about eight minutes to complete.”
While Council is the lead organisation for this project, it is essential that the various stakeholder organisations jointly own the strategy and are committed to pursuing it in conjunction with their own branding and marketing.
“A series of diagnostic workshops were held recently,” said Mr Page. “These workshops have allowed Gen.a to meet a wide range of stakeholders and learn firsthand how they feel about doing business, future investment, tourism, education, the arts, health and everyday life in Penrith.
“Gen.a is now using this information to form some general ideas about the future Penrith Brand.”
The next phase is to survey a much larger number of internal stakeholders. This survey will be used to verify some of the direction derived from the workshops and to test some of the concepts and ideas that are being proposed as part of the future Penrith Brand.
Please call Paul Page on 47327 866 if you have any questions about this important and exciting project.

A fresh approach to tourism and events

For many years there has been a concept that Greater Sydney and therefore Penrith should be treated on a similar basis to regional NSW in terms of marketing assistance. There is an opportunity to promote this idea at a meeting of the government’s Visitor Economy Taskforce in Parramatta next Friday, November 18.
The details are as follows:
Meeting Time: 11am – 1:30pm
Venue: Western Sydney Business Centre
Address: Level 2, 470 Church Street, North Parramatta NSW 2151 Phone: 02 8843 1100 Website: http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/general-contact
RSVP: visitoreconomy@business.nsw.gov.au
If you would like to know a bit more about this issue please call Penrith City Council's City Marketing Supervisor Paul Page on 4732 7866.
Caption: Key speaker Penrith City Council's City Marketing Supervisor Paul Page.

30 years and still running strong

The Penrith Valley Nepean Triathlon is off and racing on the weekend of November 12-13 at the International Regatta Centre at Penrith Lakes celebrating its 30th Anniversary with Penrith City Council once again sponsoring the event.
More than $15,000 in prize money has attracted a great field of more than 1000 competitors.
“We’re delighted to sponsor one of the largest and longest running triathlons in Australia,” Penrith City Mayor Councillor Greg Davies said. “The race has been an institution in the City since 1982 and a real highlight of the sporting calendar for both spectators and the many competitors who participate in it year after year.
“This year is all the more important as the event is celebrating its 30thanniversary and judging by the amount of entries, it just keeps growing bigger and bigger.”
Nepean Enticer events will be held on Saturday, November 12. All race finishers in the main triathlon - which features a 1km swim, 30km cycle and 10km run - will receive a unique long sleeve cooldry material race shirt.
Record prize money has been allocated to the weekend of races with the outright male or female winning $5000 if they take out the Billy Baxter’s Coffee House Handicap. The fastest male and female swimmers of the day (fastest through the timing gate) will also take home $250 and all age group category winners will receive a pair of Brooks shoes. Both 2010 winners, Michelle Wu and Brendan Sexton will defend their titles, so racing up front is expected to be world class. All finishers in the Penrith Valley Nepean Triathlon will also receive a unique 30th Anniversary Olympic style finishers’ medallion and the Enticer Race 1 and 2 finishers (both races for the younger competitors) will also receive great finishers’ medallions.
The main triathlon will also feature four special athletes who have now completed each and every Nepean Triathlon held. Greg Davies (not the Mayor), Eugene Irvin, Peter Smith & Greg Chapman are the Nepean Legends who return every year to ensure they maintain their perfect record of Nepean Triathlon completions.Details of the races can be found at www.neapeantriathlon.com . For more information please call the Penrith Valley Visitor Information Centre (VIC) on 1300 736 836. The VIC is located in Panthers car park, Mulgoa Rd, Penrith.