Vol. No. Vol. 2818No. 2427
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A FREE PUBLICATION FROM YOUR LOCAL RADIO STATIONS 3WM AND MIXXFM
Wednesday, January 10, 13, 2025 2016 Wednesday, December
Christmas
e u g o l a t a C
FOR ALL YOUR LOCAL CHRISTMAS GIFT SHOPPING IDEAS
16-PAGE LIFT-OUT INSIDE
FESTIVE FUN: Chris Versteegen and Santa entertain at Horsham Carols by Candlelight on Sunday. More, page 19. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Tourism boost plea BY BRONWYN HASTINGS
A
tourism chief is urging people to put an ‘SOS’ out to friends and family to visit the Grampians, Wimmera and Mallee regions, in what is predicted to be one of the lowest years of tourist spending in six years. Grampians Wimmera Mallee Tourism chief executive Marc Sleeman’s call comes as many tourism operators report significantly lower booking numbers for the summer, a year after bushfires severely hit the region. Mr Sleeman said the spending by
family and friends of the region’s residents was worth millions of dollars to the local tourism industry. “The data shows us it is about $661-million worth of visitor spend every year across our region, and we need that support from the local community more than ever now,” he said. “The numbers are soft right across the region for what is considered the busiest time, and I think that’s just a reflection of the bushfires last year and the challenging time we’ve had getting visitors back to the region. “What we’re seeing is visitors who come and have a great time at sum-
mer, generally look to book for the following year at the same location, and that didn’t happen last year, so we’ve missed out on some of those numbers.” Mr Sleeman said most regional locations were expecting lower than usual tourist numbers for summer, and he was campaigning in capital cities to draw people to the Grampians, Wimmera and Mallee. “There’s been a cost-of-living issue for most of the country and that’s impacting on visitation at the busy times, then we add the challenges of the bushfires last year,” he said.
“I’m working on a campaign right now in Adelaide and Melbourne to try to stimulate some sort of lastminute consideration for travel, so we’re working on plans to attract visitors during this time. “Normally we don’t need to invest in driving consideration for travel at this time of the year. It’s normally the busy time – we can sit back and enjoy a break, but right now everything’s changing. “The whole marketplace is changing and we’re finding ourselves needing to adjust to the ever-changing consumer demand.”
Mr Sleeman said following the ‘YOU’ campaign launched in July, there were about 60,000 visits to the website visitgrampians.com.au by people local to the area. “When you consider the population of the Wimmera-Mallee and the Grampians is about 62,000, I think there’s an opportunity for locals to play a really important part in helping small businesses right across the region,” he said. “That’s what the website was all about for us – a reminder of what we’ve got in our backyard.” Continued page 3
IN THIS ISSUE • Fire tax freeze • Copper thefts • Nurse retires after 70 years • Netball talent 21,505 COPIES DISTRIBUTED EACH WEEK (average)
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