Launceston's Cataract Gorge and city centre revitalisation builds Tasmania's second city's visitor profile

Launceston's Cataract Gorge, a dramatic rocky chasm carved by the South Esk River just minutes from the city centre, is one of Tasmania's most dramatic natural features and one of the most visited natural attractions in the state. The gorge's combination of swimming pools, the world's longest single-span chairlift, extensive walking tracks and the historic suspension bridge creates a visitor experience that is genuinely unusual for a site so accessible from a city centre.

The Launceston City Council and Tourism Tasmania have both invested in improving the visitor experience at the gorge and its immediate surrounds, recognising that the combination of the natural asset and its CBD proximity creates a tourism proposition that the city needs to leverage more effectively. Improvements to the gorge approach, better visitor interpretation and upgraded amenity at the First Basin swimming area are among the investments that have been made in recent years.

Launceston's city centre revitalisation has made the broader visitor proposition more compelling for overnight stays and multi-day visits that the Tamar Valley wine region, Cradle Mountain and the Freycinet Peninsula can be built around. The Grain of the Silos development in the former flour mill precinct and the improving dining and accommodation quality in the CBD have added to the reasons for visitors to spend meaningful time in Launceston rather than passing through on the way to other Tasmanian destinations.

The Tamar Valley wine region, extending north from Launceston along both banks of the Tamar River, provides a cellar door and food tourism complement to the gorge and city experiences. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the cool Tamar Valley have built a reputation in Australian wine markets, and the cellar door circuit that connects wineries on both sides of the river has developed into a mature visitor product that sustains its own visitor flow independent of Launceston's other attractions.

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