Regional tourism has generated more than $319 million into the local region in the past year.
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The latest tourism figures for the Sun Country area (which includes Yarrawonga Mulwala) were released in the Murray Regional Tourism Travel to the Murray quarterly report ending December 2018 revealing vastly positive signs for the greater region.
The report reveals the Sun Country region received 23.5% of domestic overnight visitors out of the entirety of the Murray region, a share up by 3% compared to the year ending December 2017.
An impressive 676,000 people visited overnight, a number which is up by 106,000 visitors with 56.1% of those enjoying eating out/ dining at a restaurant or café as their most popular activity undertaken.
The report also stated international overnight visitors exponentially grew with the Sun Country receiving 8,500 international overnight visitors, up by a whopping 68.7%.
Yarrawonga Mulwala Tourism and Business Executive Officer Noel Wright said the new statistics just prove the rising popularity the Sun Country region continues to have.
“The numbers are pleasing for the Sun Country Region, of which Yarrawonga Mulwala is a significant part,” Mr Wright said.
“Sun Country on the Murray is the only region along the Murray to receive double digit visitor growth in the three consecutive years in domestic overnight travel (up 18.7% in 2018). These December 2018 statistics are particularly pleasing when you look at the visitor number increases over the time frame of a few years.
“Great growth in international visitation has also bolstered the visitor numbers for the 2018 year.
“Over the three past years the Sun Country region has performed well among the other Murray regions. We have received 23.5% of visitors and 25.1% of visitor nights as a market share – a pleasing result for our region.
“Additional tourism product is proving to be a significant attractant to the visitors.”
Although experiencing great growth in domestic and international overnight visitors, the past 12 months has seen a decline in domestic day trips with Sun Country receiving 571,000 day trip visitors down by 45,000 on year ending December 2017.
Compared to the year ending December 2017, the share of visitors was down by 7.3%, however $67million was still spent in the region by day-trippers with an average of $118 spent per visitor.
The Murray Regional Tourism Travel to the Murray report also showed further positive signs for the Sun Country with some of the area’s other counterparts in Echuca Moama and Albury Wodonga remaining fairly comparable in their visitor numbers to past years whilst Sun Country is moving forward in leaps and bounds in relation to overnight visitors in particular.
“Yarrawonga Mulwala Tourism and Business (YMT&B) note that we have had a reduction in domestic day-trippers of 7.3% in 2018 which could be a result of converting the day trippers to overnight stays giving us the 18.7% increase mentioned before,” Mr Wright said.
“YMT&B continue to work to introduce new tourism product and encourage private investment to create new product.
“Aquazone, Tunzafun, Farm Gate Trail and the Silo Art Trail add to the attraction of the lake. The lowering of the lake in 2018 also had a positive impact.
“The clubs and golf continue to be significant drawcards to Yarrawonga Mulwala. The Silverwoods development will open the way to a new audience which will provide additional upward pressure on visitor numbers upon completion.
“YMT&B have also worked hard to source and secure events outside of the typical peak holiday period in Yarrawonga Mulwala.
“Events also help to provide visitor number spikes, they maximise economic impact in our shopping precincts particularly if the event is outside of our normal busy period.
“We continue to work on sourcing and securing significant events, however, budgetary constraints does hamper this process.
“The Yarrawonga Mulwala Kids Festival from July 6 - 13 2019 is our next big event. All our events have contributed to visitor numbers during traditionally slower times of the year.
“To put this in perspective – YMT&B had 10,966 people through the visitor centre doors in July 2018 during last year’s Kids Festival. This is almost 3,000 people higher than January 2019.
“We had 1,800 people in on July 9 last year to watch Dennis Massoud build a sand dragon. Dennis returns in July this year to construct his magic sculptures with sand in a number of locations around the region – stay tuned for details.”
Member for Northern Victoria Mark Gepp also said a report from Tourism Research Australia reported year ending March 2019, showed Victoria including the Murray River region welcomed 3.1 million international visitors, up by five per cent on the previous year.
“Our region has so much going for it and is increasingly becoming known around the world,” Mr Gepp said.
“From natural wonders and amazing wildlife to world-class food and wine and unbeatable events, there has never been a better time to visit Northern Victoria.
“The influx of overseas visitors means more work for local businesses and more jobs – and that’s great news in anyone’s language.
“The rise in regional Victoria was even more pronounced at more than triple the national regional average – up 12 per cent compared with 3.3 per cent in other states
“The Murray region recorded more than $20 million in tourist expenditure, an increase of $2 million on the year before, with an average spend of $745 per visitor.”
The greatest number of international visitors being recorded were from China and the United States.
Moira Shire General Manager Community Sally Rice said she was pleased with the recent tourism figures and believed marketing efforts from council and the various tourism associations including Yarrawonga Mulwala Tourism, Cobram Barooga Tourism and Western Moira Tourism were the biggest contributors to the increase in visitor numbers.
“Some of our marketing achievements include the Raft the Murray digital campaign, The Sun Country Food and Wine Festival, What’s Up Down Under (series 9, episodes 2 and 3) and the Urban List campaign,” she said.
Ms Rice also praised the efforts of local businesses in attracting people to the Sun Country region.
“Marketing efforts, particularly at a local level, push travel from Melbourne up into our beautiful area of the Murray,” Ms Rice said.
“The continuing roll-out of our Visitor Services Strategy, adopted in 2018, will continue this growth trend into the future by reaching even more visitors - state-wide, nationally and internationally.”
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