Rivercat Needed For Top Tourism Hot-Spot

03 Jun 2008

The new survey from Tourism NSW highlights the need to build - not axe - the Parramatta RiverCat, says Parramatta City Council Lord Mayor, Paul Barber.

The new survey from Tourism NSW highlights the need to build - not axe - the Parramatta RiverCat, says Parramatta City Council Lord Mayor, Paul Barber.

“The revelation by Tourism NSW that Parramatta is one of Sydney’s best known tourism destinations shows how important the RiverCat service is in bringing them here,” said Cr Paul Barber.

Bret Walker QC last October recommended to the State Government that the RiverCat service to Parramatta be scrapped, despite the ferry service annually contributing $8 million to the local economy through tourism.

“The findings by Tourism NSW are not surprising. It found that a quarter of the people who were aware of Parramatta were interested in visiting the historic precinct in the next twelve months. And can you think of a better way to visit other than by the beautiful Parramatta River?” the Lord Mayor said.

“In fact, in terms of accessibility, Parramatta ranked 8th out 27, with two in five thinking it was easy to access via public transport. The RiverCat is central to that accessibility, with a journey from Sydney Harbour that has to be one of the State’s tourism highlights,” he said.

“Parramatta City Council commissioned its own independent research into the RiverCat service earlier this year to see just how important the RiverCat service is to Sydney’s second city. Not surprisingly, 90 percent of respondents said that they support the community’s call to maintain the ferry service to Parramatta,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Along with our heritage treasures, theatres, nightlife, restaurants and shopping, the RiverCat is another great symbol of Parramatta’s importance to the local tourism industry,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Despite constant barriers to public access, poor maintenance, poor customer service and reduced running times, the RiverCat service to Parramatta continues to grow in popularity for the people of Sydney as a legitimate public transport service,” the Lord Mayor said.