Five bold new billboards have been positioned on the State's highways to draw travellers to Forbes.
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The billboards feature our beautiful lake and ski dam, Indigenous dancers and a horse rider on the stock route at the amazing sculpture.
They've been positioned to promote Forbes to travellers from Canberra, Sydney and along the Newell Highway, strategically positioned at West Wyalong and Tomingley but also at Bathurst, Yass and Young.
The council's tourism and destination officer Nadia Parkinson says it's all part of a long-term campaign, which has been fast-tracked.
The council has seized the opportunity with the billboards' availability to get Forbes out there while there are restrictions on international and even interstate travel.
Ms Parkinson, whose professional background is in graphic design, created the billboards to be vibrant and dynamic and presented a number of design options to the council earlier this year.
From caravanning by the peaceful lake to waterskiing at the ski dam, the billboards are designed to appeal to a range of demographics based on tourism research and statistics.
"We wanted to make sure it says Forbes, and that the images are iconic to Forbes," Ms Parkinson said.
"We are so lucky to have to have Lake Forbes, the ski dam, and the Lachlan River but we wanted to make it varied and highlight a lot of local features."
The team at the Forbes Visitor Information Centre has been very busy since re-opening with COVID-safe measures in place: when the Advocate visited travellers were queued outside the door to find out more about places to stay and things to do in town.
Ms Parkinson says they had 40 to 50 people enquiring about local attractions and accommodation each day throughout the school holidays including a lot of family groups.
"People are keen to get out of the city," Ms Parkinson said, and the inland with its wide open spaces is a popular destination.
The billboards are up until August 2021.
The council is also calling on locals to be part of driving Forbes tourism by sharing pictures of local attractions to social media with the hashtag #amazingforbes
"We're encouraging people to use that when they come here on holidays," Ms Parkinson said. "It's starting to get a bit of traction, there are now 2080 people following us on instagram."
The council is seeking community input on the 10-year tourism strategy, you can go online to yoursay.forbes.nsw.gov.au to be part of that.
