Sophie Conlon
LIMESTONE Coast tourism stakeholders recently gathered in Coonawarra to share what was happening in their district over what is typically a slower tourism period.
Hosted by Coonawarra Vignerons at Wynns Coonawarra Estate, industry bodies, including local council representatives and independent businesses, networked and shared what was coming up in their part of the South East over winter.
Mount Gambier Visitor Information Centre service ambassador Tracey Martin said visitor numbers in the city had been consistent since before Christmas, and they were seeing more international visitors.
“It’s really encouraging to see the number of people visiting has not dropped off between school holidays,” she said.
Ms Martin said while the Blue Lake/ Warwar was as popular as ever, visitor interest surrounding the Umpherston Sinkhole/ Balumbul was growing.
She also said Mount Gambier imaging and tourism guides were currently going through a re-fresh to better depict the region and they would be hitting the stands soon.
Grant District Council growth and tourism manager Rebecca Perkin said winter was generally a quieter time for tourism in the region, but the council had quite a few events on recently and there were plenty planned during the next few months.
She said the Bayside Drift Matsuri would be held at Port MacDonnell over the June long weekend, and an Emerging Seaweed exhibition would be opening in August.
Coonawarra Vignerons chief executive Hugh Koch said the networking event was a good opportunity to bring people together and understand what was happening across the region.
“We have a great opportunity between ourselves and our networks to encourage, promote visitors to explore, go further, and ultimately stay another day or plan a return trip,” he said.