Community + Visitor Economy
The Central West has a genuine visitor economy, and it moves the district. The Bathurst 1000 runs at the council-owned Mount Panorama; Orange F.O.O.D Week fills the calendar each autumn; the Parkes Elvis Festival draws tens of thousands in January; and Taronga's Western Plains Zoo is building a major new resort attraction. Alongside the events sit the chambers of commerce, the wine and food industries, and the local institutions of community life.
We cover what these things actually are and what they mean for the region, from the organisers' and councils' own material, and we disclose any commercial relationship where one exists.
Community + Visitor Economy
Spend per trip runs $485 in Orange, $485 in Dubbo and $488 in Mid-Western, against $335 in Bathurst on almost the same visitor count as Orange. Dubbo leads on volume and on spend per night, and Orange’s international visitors stay 40 nights.
29 August 2026
Community + Visitor Economy
BOCSAR flags two offences as significantly rising in Bathurst and three in Orange, with no overlap, and nothing at all in Blayney, Cabonne or Oberon. What separates the two lists is who reports the offence.
28 August 2026
Community + Visitor Economy
The build money is $30 million, and the government's release names only $20 million of it. Taronga's audited annual report supplies the missing third, a harder look at visitation, and a different opening date again.
6 August 2026
Community + Visitor Economy
A Multicultural NSW grant brings a new one-day event, the Kaleidoscope Festival, to Victoria Park on 7 November, at no cash cost to the council. What the grant buys, and what a brand-new event still has to prove.
24 July 2026