Tourism thrives

TOURISTS have flocked back to the North East this summer, with bustling trade helping Wangaratta and district tourism operators recover from a flood impacted spring. Doing it harder than most over the spring was the Painters Island Caravan Park, which experienced multiple closures due to flood waters, losing hundreds of bookings. Despite initial concerns going into December, park manager Jaclyn Guerin was thrilled to have the park fully re–opened in time for summer, and said they have been almost at capacity since. "The numbers have been really strong and it's been great to have everyone back again," she said. "It's fantastic, it's obviously been closed so much over the October, November period and we've found a lot of the tourists who would usually stay with us over the jazz festival and spring have been here which has been really good." Ms Guerin commended her hard working staff to have the park organised for guests over the busy period, which has provided the business with much needed relief. "We've had to take the bookings as they've come and we've been able to fill up a lot of our spots... we haven't had much availability over Christmas and January," she said. "You wouldn't know looking at the park now that at the start of December we had floodwater around, it has bounced back really well." Rural City of Wangaratta acting manager of economic development, environment and compliance, Janine Rolles, said there had been strong interest among visitors for outdoor activities, cycling, walking and waterfalls. "Our food and wine offerings continue to be a great drawcard," she said. Ms Rolles said visitors have frequently accessed tourism information via digital channels, which has led to a 26 per cent decrease in patronage at the Visitor Information Centre in Murphy Street. Despite the decrease, the centre – which is relocating to the Wangaratta Performing Arts and Convention Centre in April – still reported 340 visits over the holiday period and totalled 17,000 over the past 12 months. "There was a gradual movement pre–COVID to visitors accessing tourism information via digital channels, and we have seen this grow strongly post–COVID," she said. "Visitors are also accessing information at their point of interest at our satellite stands of tourist information around the municipality." Brand manager of Pizzini Wines, Natalie Pizzini, said the King Valley winery has experienced similar high numbers of steady visitation. "The region has been able to deliver some top standard tourist experiences so customers are extremely happy when they come and when they go," she said. Ms Pizzini said King Valley hospitality has been flourishing in recent holiday periods because of the extra availability for accommodation, including the Pizzini Wines owned Mountain View Hotel. "Five or six years ago, the majority of the customers that came through at this time of year would have been camping at the Gentle Annie Caravan Park or Valleyview Caravan Park or along the King River at the Edi Cutting," she said. "Because there's so many more bed and breakfasts in the area, we're getting more visitors who have more places to stay, and the campers are excited about what's on offer at this side of the valley now. "They'll plan to go to the hotel for one night for dinner, to Chrismont for lunch, Dal Zotto for wine tasting, King River Brewery for a pizza and a beer or tacos on a Thursday night. "They're not just coming for one or two days, they're staying for the week and experiencing all the different businesses in the region. "It really is a holiday experience and I'm loving that aspect for visitors in the King Valley now." At Glenrowan, Kate' Cottage's co–owner Michelle Coad said the Ned Kelly themed cottage has seen massive numbers of families young and old roll through their doors. "It's always busy at this time of year, but it's been busy consistently," she said. "There's always a lot of family visitation during school holidays, but we have a lot of variety of groups coming in. "It's an interesting part of our Australian history and people are starting to re–visit the story." Ms Coad said as relatively new owners of the cottage, they have tried adding different aspects to the business such as creating a Facebook page and an onsite scavenger hunt to help promote visitation. "By having a Facebook page, it's given an awareness of the business not many people knew existed," she said. "All these different things help to bring people in. "We expect it to busy right up until school starts again at the start of February."

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