Orange NSW wine region reaps boom in 'bookable' tourism experiences

The tourist activity had previously been quite niche in regional NSW but with COVID-19 halting travel abroad, more affluent holiday-makers were coming to regional areas instead.

Orange 360's general manager Caddie Marshall said the demand for "bookable experiences" took off around six months ago when regional travel started again.

From there, Orange's tourist appeal grew largely through word-of-mouth.

"(Tourists) want that immersive experience... They want to be able to do more than a wine tasting, they want to be able to meet the wine-maker... People are wanting to be able to touch, feel and smell - they want to fully immerse themselves in the experience," Ms Marshall said.

"It's really about being educated as well as entertained... When they (tourists) have a deeper knowledge and a more intimate relationship with the venue or property owner, they value it more and it's more memorable for them."

This huge and rather sophisticated change to not just Orange's tourism market, but also many other regional destinations', was the natural evolution to people not being able to spend holiday money overseas.

Long before COVID-19 shook up the domestic tourism market, Rowlee Wines was already targeting this immersive tourism experience after seeing how wine regions in Western Australia and South Australia were tapping into it.

In fact, the local winery was the first in NSW to start bookable experiences with their "vine to table" package in 2017.

As a business that's always been susceptible to environmental factors like drought and bushfires, Rowlee's Nicole Samodol said she had started researching for ways to diversity.

"The bookable, immersive experience offers people the opportunity to go a bit deeper, to go beyond the cellar door to understand more about how the grapes are grown, how the wine is made, (to meet) the people behind the (winery's) story, to interact with locals, and really get that hands-on-experience that otherwise wouldn't be available," she said.

"For a lot of people who live in the city, it's a completely different world and they're fascinated by it. For them it's a really unique experience (being able to do) simple things like pick their own produce."