Blue Mountains. Tourism report queried

Blue Mountains Lithgow and Oberon Tourism chairman, Randall Walker, The Blue Mountains’ tourism chief has moved to hose down reports of the slow death of the region’s number one industry despite the release of concerning visitor statistics. Recently released regional expenditure survey by Tourism Research Australia showed a steady decline in the number of domestic visitors to the Mountains since 1999 including a cut of almost 50 per cent in overnight stays. “We are not doing worse than other regions. We have held our own in a declining market,” he said in the Blue Mountains Gazette. He did concede ongoing problems at the Fairmont Resort had affected the region’s tourism figures. He said the Fairmont had shown improvement under receivers and also cited positive figures in the past financial year for tourism mainstays including Scenic World, The Carrington Hotel and The Mountain Heritage.