A record number of visitors have flocked to the Bunbury Geographe region, pouring valuable dollars into the visitor economy.
According to the latest National Visitor Survey, there was a 35.8 per cent increase in international visitor nights and 20.6 per cent increase in domestic visitor nights in the Bunbury Geographe region for the 12 months to June.
There’s also been a massive 28.1 per cent surge in day-trippers.
After a state-wide slow 2018, Bunbury has experienced phenomenal growth with an 83.7 per cent increase in domestic visitor nights.
Bunbury Geographe Tourism Partnership’s Tourism Marketing and Development Manager, Anissa Williams said she was over the moon with the results.
“Our growth is well and truly surpassing that of the overall South West, which experienced a 2.6% and 14.8% growth in international and intrastate overnight visitors respectively.”
The commitment of government at a local and state level to the BunGeo visitor economy with the support of the Bunbury Geographe Tourism Partnership and investment in product such as the Dolphin Discovery Centre and MTB trails is starting to pay dividends.
“It’s great news, giving businesses a real boost and raising our profile as a visitor destination, “Ms Williams said.
“Importantly, at 1,772M, the Bunbury Geographe’s visitor economy has the region largest economic multiplier, substantially surpassing mining at $790M and agriculture, forestry and fishing at $367M.
Ms Williams noted that investment in tourism product development and destination marketing required a long term approach, so the commitment to the visitor economy needed to continue at both a government and industry level.
“Moving forward, our focus is on initiatives that improve our visitation and spend, in particular, growing awareness and changing perceptions in the Perth market.
“We also need to focus on encouraging our day-trippers to stay longer.
The Bunbury Geographe Tourism Partnership will be working with Tourism WA, Australia’s South West, City of Bunbury, Don Punch MLA and a committed group of local tourism and hospitality operators to implement Minister Papalia’s recently announced marketing and packaging campaign for Bunbury.
“When the campaign rolls out, I urge all BunGeo tourism operators and businesses to get involved and continue to drive our visitor economy.”
ENDS
