Cobar has welcomed 7,700 visitors to the Visitor Information Centre and the Great Cobar Museum in the first five months of this year.
Cobar Shire Council’s tourism manager, Demi Smith said that figure is down slightly on last year’s total visitor figures from January to May 2023 of 8,487, but she said there has been a steady increase in tourists coming to town in the past two months.
May was our busiest month for visitors this year with more than 2,500 tourists welcomed, 1,100 of which toured the museum.
“We’ve had less visitors this year compared to last year, but they are spending more,” Demi reported to last week’s Tourism Advisory Committee meeting at the Services Club.
She said income from museum admission is up slightly on last year but it’s in shop souvenirs sales (up nearly $3,000 on last year’s income) and coach group bookings (which have doubled since last year) where their extra income is coming from.
Traditionally our busiest time for tourists is in the cooler months from April through to the end of September.
In April this year we welcomed 2,051 visitors (compared to 2,459 last year) and 2,571 visited Cobar in May (compared to 2,472 in May 2023).
“We’ve also had a really busy few weeks in June so we’re expecting that our figures will be up again this month,” Demi said.
“And it looks like July and August will also be busy with lots of Mundi Mundi Bash visitors expected to pass through on their way to and from Broken Hill.”
