Bendigo businesses boosted by school holiday visitor numbers

The City of Greater Bendigo says local businesses have benefited from a rise in visitor numbers during the recent school holidays.

City of Greater Bendigo Tourism Marketing Manager, Glenn Harvey credits the Mary Quant exhibition at the Bendgio Art Gallery and the Awaken light festival Awaken have been significant draw cards for visitors.

Harvey told the ABC “we've had over 60,000 free tickets snapped up for Awaken. It's been amazing," With tens of thousands of people flocking to Bendigo over the winter holiday period, Harvey advised that there has been a significant flow-on effect for accommodation and hospitality businesses.

He added “accommodation has been busy last week and continuing into this week and lots of the hospitality venues have also been busy throughout the week.”

Harvey says while the exact number of visitors is not yet known, commenting that "70,000 people visited our tourism website" in recent weeks.

Bendigo attractions have been booked out every day as Victorian families opted to explore their own backyard over the school holidays.

Bendigo Heritage Attractions says some days it doubled the number of Talking Tram tours to meet crazy demand.

Customer Operations Coordinator Cindy Lobb says it's been exciting to see strong visitor numbers and interest in attractions for the full two weeks, explaining “we've increased our tours from 10 tours a day up to 15 or 16.”

Hugo Leschen, Chief Executive of the Golden Dragon Museum, says weekends are usually busy on school holidays, but it usually drops off during the week.

Leschen told the ABC "through this school holiday period, we've actually been really busy every day."

Commenting on welcoming more Victorians from other regions but fewer interstate visitors, Harvey went on to say “we've seen people come from all over Victoria.”

Tourism operators agree the interstate travel restrictions has likely meant more people have come to Central Victoria, as travellers choose to stay closer to home amid changing border advice.

Looking forward, Harvey says for the town to truly recover from the economic impact of COVID-19 lockdowns, the momentum needs to continue.

He concluded “it's been a really tough 18 months, and we're now getting some great experiences and people are coming back.

"It's positive signs at the moment, we just hope that it continues."

Images: Awaken (top) and the Mary Quant exhibition at the Bendgio Art Gallery (below). Credit; Bendigo Regional Tourism.