THE October long weekend kicked off one of the busiest months for those in the Orange tourism industry.
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From Friday, October 2 to Monday, October 5, visitors from across NSW, Queensland and Victoria made the most of the warm weather and visited many of Orange’s tourist spots, with staff at the Orange Visitor Information Centre estimating that about 600 people visited the centre on the weekend.
Brand Orange executive officer Rhonda Sear said it was great to see Orange bustling with tourists, with every cellar door busy and accommodation booked out.
“I think it’s busy because the long weekend is the beginning of the warmer weather and many people are looking to the festive season. I think part of it is in Sydney, people shut themselves away a little bit over winter, so it’s a great excuse for them to get out,” Ms Sear said.
“There’s also lot of promotion of Orange at the moment.”
Orange Driver Reviver, run by volunteers from organisations including the Lions Club of Orange, saw about 80 cars stop by on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Monday.
“We may not get as many people as we used to, but we still get quite a few come past,” volunteer Kevin Hope said.
“If you’ve helped just one person, it’s worth it.”
Orange also played host to the 2015 Gymnastics NSW Country Championships from Thursday to Sunday, which attracted 900 competitors, 200 coaching staff and 200 officials and judges.
Quality Inn Ambassador Orange manager Renee Cullis said the long weekend was the beginning of a very busy month for the motel.
“There’s the [Australian National] Field Days, the Orange Wine Festival and the Bathurst 1000 next weekend. We’re pretty much booked out for next weekend, we get the same guys who come here every year, it’s good because it’s all return business,” Mrs Cullis said.
She said the majority of the motel’s 50 rooms were booked for the gymnastics championships, with some families staying on on Monday to see a few wineries.
Mid City Motor Lodge’s Vijay Bohra echoed Mrs Cullis’ comments, adding some of the motel’s non-gymnastics guests went to the open days at Wentworth Main Mine in Lucknow.
alexandra.king@fairfaxmedia.com.au
