Taking the scenic route

Scenic World was founded by Harry Hammon, who became known as the father of Blue Mountains tourism.

Scenic World provides a scenic view of the Three Sisters. Source: Supplied

Anthea Hammon is taking the scenic route in her career; that's not to say five years spent running one of Australia's largest tourism attractions has been a stroll.

"The days are busy, we are running up to 200 staff in summer and there is a lot to do, always," the new mum and trained engineer said.

A lot has happened since Anthea and her brother David became joint managing directors of the family business, including a 39 million dollar upgrade of the park's cable car.

Anthea Hammon innovated the business with a new cable car once her and her brother joined Scenic World as managing directors. Source: Supplied

"We took on from Dad (Phil Hammon) who had done an amazing job building all the infrastructure, so at that point we really wanted to get the staff right and build the culture and really give the people an experience they would love when they came here - I think Grandpa would be horrified by how much money we have spent!"

The investment was a strategy to overcome a five-year slump, as the local tourism sector lagged.

"So we finished the new skyway in 2004, and we had a good couple of years after that and then we had bushfires, then a GFC. So we started to see numbers on the business go into a fairly natural decline."

That has turned around, with revenue and ticket numbers growing 10 percent every year since 2012.

60 percent of visitors are from overseas and almost all of arrive on tours, with the Chinese market dominating the field.

Chinese tourists dominate a huge chunk of Scenic World's international visitors. Source: Supplied

A third of all visitors to Sydney visit Scenic World - a huge coup for the operation, which has now begun to target this growing audience.

"Probably in the last five years the Chinese market has really grown and in the last three years since we finished the scenic railway, we've seen our Chinese visitation grow 61 percent."

Despite the fact it hosts multiple feats of engineering which require ongoing maintenance, Scenic World hasn't closed for a single day in 70 years.

The view is open 365 days a year. Source: Supplied

"Not everyone celebrates Christmas and I think that's a pretty readily known fact. So on Christmas day, people need something to do."

Since it first opened its gates, Scenic World welcomed 27.5 million visitors, many of whom flock to St Mary's lookout - one of the best seats in the house.

It was named for Anthea's Grandma Mary, who'd sit with Grandpa Harry beside her, taking in the view, and planning how to share it.

Want to find out the secret to small business success? Tune into #BizSecretsSBS at Sundays 5pm on SBS, stream on SBS Demand, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.