THE new face of Tourism Mount Gambier has defended a reported $30m decline in the Limestone Coast’s day trip tourism economy, stating visitors were staying longer in the region.
The state opposition last month criticised the State Government over what it claimed was a $70m decline in day trip expenditure across the state in the 12 months to December 2018 when compared to the same period in 2017.
However, Tourism Mount Gambier chair Ben Deering yesterday said tourists were spending longer in the region given the ever-growing itinerary of activities.
With an estimated 617,000 overnight visitors swamping the Limestone Coast from December 2016 until December 2018, Mr Deering said these figures were positive signs for the local economy.
“Our economy circulates well, each dollar that goes to a local cafe circulates to another local, but when tourists and visitors come here then that is money entering the economy that was not previously there,” Mr Deering said.
“We want the overnight visiting numbers to increase because the longer they stay the more they can experience around the region which is also great for our economy.”
Mr Deering said the increasing number of activities around the region was keeping tourists interested, adding word of mouth was the key to attracting extended visitation.
“Instead of just coming to the town for about an hour and driving around the Blue Lake people are realising there are more things to do here,” he said.
“That is when they decide to stay a night or two and experience the region.”
With summer on the horizon, Mr Deering said the local tourism sector was set to skyrocket.
“We want to keep last summer’s numbers the lowest we ever experience,” he said.
“With modern media we are able to maintain and sustain numbers coming into the region.
“We can now showcase there is so much more to do and open doors to a wide range of tourists.”
Natural wonders such as the Umpherston Sinkhole and Ewens Ponds are among the attractions to keep tourists in the region, but Mr Deering said the region’s tourism sector still had plenty of room to grow.
“We are now looking at growing the opinion and view tourists have of Mount Gambier and widening it,” Mr Deering said.
“We have a unique opportunity to sell our stories here and a lot of the things that do happen around town are things visitors will not know about unless they have asked.”
Looking to the future, Mr Deering predicted a bumper summer holiday period for the region.
“The beauty of media is that people will put a photograph online and people will ask where it is,” Mr Deering said.
“I really think it has given us another generation of tourism and we are working towards growing sustainability around that.”
