Mr Sleigh, who has picked five of his most anticipated events in the region for the summer, said the region has much to offer over the warmer months.

‘’Tourism on the South Coast is crazy during the summer period,’’ Mr Sleigh said.

‘’The one positive we have is that unlike Sydney, we do have accommodation capacity so we can still welcome people here especially over Christmas and the New Year period.

‘’Mainly because of the natural environment, summer very much lends itself to visitors coming here over that period and the events schedule is pretty amazing over that period too.’’

With the world-renowned beaches already well known, Mr Sleigh would like to see some of the other jewels of the region put into focus this summer.

‘’The beaches are stunning; we’ve got 17 patrolled beaches in the Illawarra LGA (local government area) which is one of the largest in the country,’’ he said.

‘’When you think about it, you’ve got the foreshore, the beaches, the nature of the escarpment and a lake all within a 15-minute drive and there’s very few places in the world that can say they’ve got those three unique assets in such close proximity.

‘’The challenge for Wollongong as a region is the foreshores are extremely well activated and extremely well visited, but you could argue the Lake and the escarpment are very much under-utilised.

‘’It’s not just about commercial activation, it’s about getting people out there to enjoy them, – the bushwalking on the escarpment is as good as anywhere in Australia. It just needs to be promoted a bit more and people need to get out there and enjoy it.’’

Mr Sleigh said in terms of tourism in general the length of stay visitors had in the region was expanding and the spend per visitor had increased by 22 per cent.

’’What we are saying, as we continue to grow the product and give people a reason to stay the extra day longer, it’s a hell of a lot easier to get them to stay another night to do something else than it is to get them here in the first place. That’s the gains we can make.,’’ he said.

Check out a live interview with Mr Sleigh at www.illawarramercury.com.au.