Western Plains Cultural Centre doubles its visitor numbers as Dubbo Tourism recovers to pre-COVID figures

Dubbo Regional Council advises that the tourism industry across the region has recovered with figures in April 2023 matching those seen before the COVID-19 pandemic at the same time of the year.

The Western Plains Cultural Centre, while consistently beating the existing monthly average of the last four years across almost every tourist attraction and measure of accommodation occupancy, experienced a particularly strong April 2023. The centre almost doubled its numbers going from 6,403 unique visitors in April 2022 to 12,153 last month.

One of the highlights of the data is the long-term average stay figure increasing significantly to an average night stay of 2.7 nights. From 2014 to 2019 the average night stay hovered around 2.2 nights. This represents a 23% increase. In addition, the average accommodation occupancy in Dubbo for the month was up 10% on the four-year average, reaching 79%, while Wellington saw a rate of 60%, equalling the four-year average.

All other numbers are in the vicinity of those from the months of April 2018 and April 2019, the last two years before the pandemic hit the region.

Average expenditure per trip has also been increasing across the region while airport passenger numbers are also back to pre-COVID heights, reaching 17,729 during the month of March.

Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson enthused “seeing these strong numbers is really exciting both for Council and for tourism operators across our area.

“Tourists are visiting the Dubbo region despite having overseas options available again, which goes to show that what we are offering is unique, diverse and irresistible to many people from across the country.

“The Dubbo region is one of the heavy hitters in the state’s tourism sector, with a range of fantastic events across the region in coming months, including the DREAM Festival.

“These results show that our region’s tourism sector is one we should all be proud of. With the ongoing delivery of a great visitor experience we should be confident that this trend will continue.

Dubbo Regional Council also shared that the Cathedral Cave at Wellington Caves reopened to the public last month.