Tourism soars as visitation peaks in Geraldton

Visitors have chosen to chase the sun to Geraldton this winter with record visitation numbers.

Geraldton has proved itself as a popular holiday destination as visitation numbers absolutely soared over the past two weeks.

Feedback from local businesses including restaurants, accommodation and tourism providers indicates that Geraldton was the place to be these winter school holidays!

Many accommodation providers were nearing 100% occupancy throughout the last two weeks and some businesses described it as the busiest fortnight they’d ever experienced.

A recent Visit Geraldton tourism marketing campaign, mixed with borders re-opening as the COVID-19 pandemic somewhat calmed down for WA, saw people from the south embrace the opportunity to head north this winter.

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn thanked those travelling to the Coral Coast which has given the local economy a much needed revival.

“Firstly, a huge thank you goes to all of those travellers – families, young couples, caravaners, and everyone in between, for choosing Geraldton as your holiday destination,” he said.

“If you’ve been to the CBD in the last two weeks you would definitely agree that Geraldton has been absolutely pumping.

“We launched our ‘Adventure Awaits’ tourism marketing campaign back in May, which prompted many of our friends down south to book their next trip north, with Geraldton front of mind as a destination of choice.

“It’s great to see that people have chased the sun this winter and basked in some beautiful Geraldton weather.

“Our iconic ‘Take a Fresh Look’ Geraldton tourism brand is just as relevant as ever.”

The City’s Adventure Awaits campaign launched earlier this year in a bid to encourage tourists to holiday in their own backyard and placing Geraldton and the Midwest front of mind for those planning their next getaway.

Embracing Geraldton as the ‘hub’ to explore the whole of the Midwest region, there was a heavy push on exploring the Midwest and places such as the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Pink Lake and Kalbarri.

As part of the campaign, a series of online advertising targeting people in the south was released with more than 50,000 impressions.

A collaboration with digital community Perth is OK had more than 146,000 impressions, driving people to find out more about Geraldton.

Businesses were encouraged to join the campaign to help promote Geraldton, with stats from the Geraldton Visitor Centre showing 75% of people through the door were either first-time visitors to Geraldton, or hadn’t visited in more than 10 years.

Owner of local cafes Jaffle Shack and Cafe Fleur, Christian Watters said he had received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from customers.

“Business has been steadily building since restrictions were lifted but the previous two weeks have been our busiest on record,” he said.

“There’s been massive energy in town with the number of visitors being super impressed with the city in general and stating often that they hadn’t been here in so long and how much it has changed. The new focus on domestic tourism could be a real benefit to Geraldton.

“I hope this trend continues and with Geraldton giving such a great impression, these people will hopefully visit again and again.”

A high volume of visitors to the Midwest is predicted to continue with wildflower season about to bloom.

The Adventure Awaits campaign will continue to feature in Perth with a series of bus backs from August through to mid-October.

There will also be a Visit Geraldton feature on a billboard on Perth’s Tonkin Highway in September.

If you’re looking for information on things to do in Geraldton, head to www.visitgeraldton.com.au