{"id":242337,"date":"2019-08-22T23:16:15","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T13:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=242337"},"modified":"2020-07-18T13:14:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-18T03:14:02","slug":"visitor-numbers-continue-to-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/08\/22\/visitor-numbers-continue-to-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Visitor Numbers Continue To Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Visitor numbers at the South Burnett’s five Visitor Information Centres continued to slide during the April-June quarter, dropping by almost 14 per cent year-on-year in an allegedly peak tourism period<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 22, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Visitor numbers to the South Burnett’s five Visitor Information Centres (VICs) suffered a year-on-year decline of almost 14 per cent between April and June this year.<\/p>\n

The data is contained in the South Burnett Regional Council\u2019s latest quarterly Economic Development Report, which was tabled at August\u2019s monthly Council meeting.<\/p>\n

According to the report, fewer than 11,500 tourists paid a visit to a VIC during April, May and June.<\/p>\n

This was down from 13,165 who paid a visit during the same period last year.<\/p>\n

To service visitor inquiries, volunteers donated close to 6100 hours over the quarter, or about 30 minutes per inquiry.<\/p>\n

From this activity, the centres generated $22,409 in gross sales between April and June – about $3.67 per volunteer hour.<\/p>\n

The report is the latest in a series which show the number of tourists using VICs to source local information is in decline.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Previous reports have said this is due, in part, to the changing ways that tourists get information, including turning to online sources.<\/p>\n

Last August Council announced that while it would continue to fund the region’s VICs, it would undertake a study to determine their future.<\/p>\n

In January, the Council released a 14-page discussion paper to canvas possible new directions for the network.<\/p>\n

Council has yet to release the results of this discussion paper.<\/p>\n

At Wednesday’s meeting, the Economic Development Report was passed without comment.<\/p>\n

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