German tourists Marco Fischer, Erik Wolf and their

camper-van Charlotte are well qualified to comment on our town.

They have just driven through almost 5000km of Australia, including the east coast from Melbourne to Port Macquarie.

“We read in the Lonely Planet guide that Port Macquarie was good holiday village,” Mr Fischer said.

“And it is the entry point to the sub-tropical and has very good beaches.”

The young men are on a five-month holiday in Australia and are taking in as much of the country as possible.

“We started in Cairns and drove to Townsville, then to Alice Springs and south to Adelaide,” Mr Fischer said.

“Since then we have wrapped around the coast and up to Port Macquarie.”

And they are in no doubt about what is the best aspect of our town.

“You have wonderful beaches and weather,” Mr Wolf said.

Mr Fischer said NSW was a popular destination with German students who had finished school and were looking for overseas travel.

“It is a must see destination.”

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council acting tourism

manager Linda Hall said she couldn’t quantify the dollar value of surf tourism to the economy. But it is one of our major selling points.

“Certainly surf tourism is one of our focuses when it comes to marketing the area to couples, families and backpackers alike,” Mrs Hall said.

“Staging events like the Australian Surf Festival in August are also greatly enhancing our reputation as a surfing destination.”

NSW Tourism Minister Jodi McKay said new estimates showed NSW was the number-one destination for surf tourism in Australia.

“NSW has spectacular beaches all along its coastline including 77 of the top 100 surf beaches in Australia,” Ms McKay said.

NSW surf tourism operators say the north coast surf holiday, taking in Newcastle, Port Macquarie, the Coffs Coast and Byron Bay was a favourite with visiting board

riders.