DAYTRIPPERS are flocking to the Border, with Albury Council reporting a 66 per cent increase of domestic day visitors last year.
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They boosted the local economy by $218.3 million, while the 14 per cent jump in overnight visitors contributed another $209.4 million.
The figures comes as Albury joined with Wodonga yesterday to launch its second annual Albury-Wodonga Visitors Guide.
Judging by the new data, from the Albury Tourism Monitor, last year’s guide has done the job — Albury is the second most popular destination in the Murray region.
EDITORIAL: Tourists are big business
There were 1.26 million daytrippers last year, spending about $173 per person, while overnight guests spent about $157 on accommodation per night.
Attracting international visitors was an area noted for improvement, with them accounting for just 3.28 per cent of total visitors to the city.
Albury mayor Kevin Mack welcomed the new figures, which showed tourism had injected a total $564 million locally.
“This is a great outcome for Albury and is testament to the investment by the council in tourism over the past five years,” he said.
“We owe this excellent result to the operation and growth of our visitor information centre, our collaboration with our tourism partners, Murray Region Tourism, the City of Wodonga, a strong focus on events, and our diverse tourism offer.”
Wodonga mayor Rod Wangman said the council’s own tourism results would not be released until the end of the year but he expected them to be similar to Albury’s.
“We know that when people visit Albury or Wodonga, they are really visiting Albury-Wodonga,” he said.
The mayors joined forces last night for the launch of the Border’s new visitor guide at Huon Hill, Wodonga.
Cr Wangman described the booklet as “an absolute cracker” showcasing the best of the region’s shopping, dining, entertainment and cultural activities.
“We should be seriously proud of this, Albury-Wodonga is on the way up,” he said.
Cr Mack echoed his sentiments and said the guide’s success was “evidence of what we can do together”.