The 2001 Australian Regional Tourism Convention was held at Port Maquarie, New South Wales.

Formal feedback from participants in the 2001 Australian Regional Tourism Convention was overwhelmingly positive. Comments indicative of the response included:

"'A good "first" regional conference, excellent networking benefits and understanding of the general needs on a national status."

"Congratulations, fantastic atmosphere. Full marks to the organising committee. Facilitators worked well. Enjoyed participatory workshops."

"Great conference, Well Done! Great MC, excellent speakers."

"Great to see commitment to continue conference in future."

"Definitely positive and worthwhile. Well organised convention in a great town. Thank you!"

"Searched & searched for a criticism and the worst I can come up with is that the Christian names are a bit close to the top and the organisation name sometimes a bit close to the bottom of the name tag!"

Notes for improvement included:

• Ensuring a wider representation of all States and Territories (Queensland and South Australia were under-represented in 2001)
• Encouraging more operators and small destination marketing organisations to share their experiences

The inaugural event was held in Port Macquarie, New South Wales in September, 2001. It was attended by over 140 delegates, primarily representing RTO's and local government. The Convention involved three days of discussion and debate and resulted in a number of outcomes with national, state, and local significance.

The four themes in 2001 were: destination branding; new product development; partnership marketing; and resource management.