Tamworth council brings in specialist companies to set tourism and economic future straight

While Tamworth has been successful in branding itself as the country music capital, it lacks a game plan for exactly how it's going to draw tourists to the region, mayor Col Murray said.

"We haven't had specialist assistance, nearly everything we have done has been in-house, we have some talented people but without the skill other cities have, if we don't step up to that level of professionalism we'll get left behind," he said.

The council has put out tenders for expert consultants to develop a Destination Management Plan to look at the current situation, identify the area's competitive advantages and look at what has limited the region until now.

The plan should set out a vision, brand, how it will be brought to life and the city's target markets, as well as show specific actions to put Tamworth back in the limelight.

At the same time, the council has put out a tender to develop it's Tamworth Tomorrow strategy - a defining document that pinpoints new income streams and priority industries to grow.

There's plenty of opportunities here, it's about how Tamworth attracts investment, Cr Murray said.

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"We have been out-gunned by other regional cities so this is part of a plan to lift the profile of our focus on economic development," he said.

"We haven't resourced it properly in the past and that's what this is about - how much money we need to allocate to economic development to ramp that up."

The tender has closed and the plans are expected to go before the council in future.

Tamworth Regional Council growth and prosperity director Jacqueline O'Neill declined to comment.

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