The award recognises that this community-grown arts celebration is now a major tourism drawcard that delivers substantial economic impact for the Eurobodalla region.

In 2016, the 10-day festival clocked up a record 19,095 attendances across more than 100 activities from Batemans Bay to Wallaga Lake – representing a 40 per cent increase on the previous year.  

This brought in visitors during May and boosted bed-nights across the entire Eurobodalla Shire, contributing more than $3.4 million to the local economy.  

Determined to build on its long-running success as a flagship tourism event, the Eurobodalla River of Art Committee will hold its annual general meeting this week to kick off planning for 2017. 

Committee chairperson Sue Barford welcomes interested people to become involved. 

“Our success is all due to our enthusiastic and dedicated committee, along with the many artists and local businesses who support us year after year,” Ms Barford said.

“Looking to the future, we want to build our partnerships with local businesses and the Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma chambers of commerce to drive the festival’s economic impact even further. 

“This award, together with our record return on investment in 2016, gives us confidence that we can attract continued support from our major funder, the NSW Government through Destination NSW.

“We are also in discussions with the Eurobodalla Shire Council - our key strategic partner – to look at how they help us sustain and grow future festivals by providing event management support. 

Our volunteer committee needs this investment so that we can continue to run this major regional event and meet our ambitious tourism targets for 2017 to 2020.”