TOTAL visitor spend in Spa Country has dived, according to the latest Tourism Research Australia national visitor survey.
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The survey, for the year ending in December 2017, indicates the total visitor spend in the Hepburn Shire decreased by 8.1 per cent.
Sam O’Connor, from The Farmers Arms Hotel in Daylesford, said the statistics make sense as it has been a little quieter than usual, but they had not noticed any major differences to business.
He said summer was not a typically a busy period for the region, apart from ChillOut Festival, but tourism tended to pick up in autumn.
Mr O’Connor, who has lived in Daylesford for his entire life, said the town tended to experience a major influx in tourist numbers when festivals were on.
He said the upcoming Daylesford Macedon Produce Harvest Festival in June generally attracted a lot of tourists to Daylesford as it embodied the beauty of the town.
He said it would also be interesting to see how Daylesford’s latest tourism attraction, the Live.Love.Life Wellness Festival, would pan out.
“The wellness festival seems to be really well-marketed to the strengths of the region so it will be interesting to see the number of people it attracts,” Mr O’Connor said.
It was inevitable the numbers would slow down, but all my feedback is that tourism is continuing to boom.
- Noel Harvey
Daylesford Macedon Ranges Tourism chairman Noel Harvey said the statistics were potentially a result of the economy.
He said the numbers were expected to stagnate or decline slightly given the ‘phenomenal trajectory the region has experienced in the past two years’.
“From speaking to businesses and learning how busy they are, I am not getting a sense of declining tourism, however these are the numbers and they cannot be ignored,” he said.
“It was inevitable the numbers would slow down, but all my feedback is that tourism is continuing to boom.
“We will work to find out what has caused it, but it is not a statistically significant shift. We will continue to work on driving further growth through events and festivals.”
Other towns in regional Victoria which noted marked increases were the Yarra Valley, which had a major increase of 16.6 per cent. Ballarat had an 8.2 per cent increase in visitor spending, with Geelong and Bellarine also having an increase of 2.3 per cent.
Statistics for Bendigo Loddon dropped by 4.7 per cent.
