Visitor numbers have dipped a bit

Cobar Shire Council’s Tourism Manager Demi Smith reports visitors numbers to Cobar in October were down on previous months.

In her report to last week’s Tourism Advisory Committee meeting, Demi said October’s visitor statistics were almost half of the numbers recorded in September.

The total number of visitors to Cobar in October was 2,152 with 898 going through The Great Cobar Museum while 1,254 called into the Visitor Information Centre (VIC).

Comparing that to September (which had the highest number of visitors this year), we had a total of 4,122 visitors, with 1,498 visiting the museum and 2,624 at the VIC.

It’s the first dip in visitor numbers to Cobar in the past six months with a developing trend of growing visitor numbers, mostly exceeding 3,000 each month.

“It’s our quietest month since March,” Demi reported.

“Lots of travellers have been affected by the weather and road closures around the state.

“It did affect our Grey Mardi Gras and Miner’s Ghost festivals last month a bit with a few people disappointed they couldn’t get here.

“We also think high fuel prices may be also playing a part,” she said.

With a total of 25,576 people visiting Cobar since January, Demi said they are however still on track to record a bumper year for visitors.