The Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association announced three new appointments to the board at its annual general meeting at McWilliams Mount Pleasant on Wednesday.
Guiseppe Spagnolo from The Vintage, Gwyn Olsen (Pepper Tree and Briar Ridge Wines) and Chris Tyrrell (Tyrrell's Wines) are the new faces on the board.
They join Andrew Margan, Brian McGuigan, John Stevens, Bob McLeish, Ian Napier, Phil Hele, Stewart Ewen and Cessnock and Singleton Councils general managers Stephen Glen and Jason Linnane.
Chris Tyrrell’s father Bruce has retired from the board, along with Belinda Paterson and Steve George.
HVWTA chairman George Souris thanked the departing trio for their tremendous contribution to tourism in the Hunter Valley.
It was revealed at the meeting that this year has continued to be a period of re-focusing for the association, further aligning itself to be an efficient marketing organisation for the tourism and wine industries, that exists through the support of its membership.
"Our immediate goal remains to grow overnight stays and day visitation by attracting greater shares of markets that fill non-peak seasonality and to target differential market penetration to attract a new segment of visitors," Mr Souris said.
It has been just over a year since the association joined forces with Cessnock and Singleton Councils to form the Hunter Valley Wine Tourism Alliance.
“Twelve months on we can now see that the alliance has set the platform for future success and the realisation of the goals that will deliver outcomes for both the tourism and wine industries," he said.
Some of the key tourism achievements for Hunter Valley wine country for 2015 include:
- $494 million economic contribution
- $108 million in salaries and wages
- 2451 jobs supported by tourism
- 1,484,000 domestic overnight visitor nights, representing 2.77% growth from the previous year
- 19,141 international visitors, representing 81% growth from the previous year.
