WHEELS FOR HIRE: Kylee Cleal and Wendy Heddle display bikes available for hire at the Wangaratta Visitors Centre, at a cost of $33 per day.
Written by SIMONE KERWIN.
WANGARATTA is becoming an increasingly popular destination for holiday tourists.
Kate Green, Rural City of Wangaratta manager - tourism development, said the number of tourists using the Wangaratta Visitors’ Centre during December had increased by 41 per cent over the last four years.
Online reservations have also increased, by nearly 200 per cent in the past three years.
"We have noticed an increase in international visitation, mainly in the region for fruit picking," Ms Green said.
The rise in visitor numbers comes after a tourism decline in the mid-2000s, which followed a great start to the decade for the sector, on the back of the Sydney Olympics.
"We are now the third best performing region in Victoria," Ms Green said.
She said the increase in the region’s popularity could be attributed to a number of factors.
"The economic downturn has meant a lot of people are travelling closer to home," she said.
"Also, people in Melbourne are realising that the region is not as far away as they thought, and that the product is more sophisticated.
"Marketing has also been ramped up to another level in recent years, and word of mouth is another factor.
"Plus, we run one of the best visitor centres in the North East, and our staff do a fantastic job."
Ms Green said marketing for the rural city focuses on the region’s strengths of jazz, food and wine, cycling and Ned Kelly.
And, anecdotally, Wangaratta’s varied typography is drawing an increasing number of cycling enthusiasts to the area.
"It’s a bit like the new golf," she said.
As part of the rural city’s efforts to build on this interest, the Wangaratta Visitor Centre is now hiring bikes in conjunction with Café Maddison at Milawa.
Ms Green said the planned opening of the Wangaratta to Oxley-Milawa bike path in April is expected to create a natural ‘loop’ back to Wangaratta via the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail.
"We anticipate this will be a very popular activity," she said.
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