It has found visitors from outside the Orange council area also buy goods at hardware stores, discount shops and clothing stores.

Analysis of spending at Orange's light industry retailers (which includes hardware stores) showed nearly 50 per cent of expenditure in this category came from people living outside the Orange council area.

The data was presented to this week's meeting of the council's Economic Development Committee.

Committee chair Cr Tony Mileto said the data showed visitor spending in Orange was diverse.

"Some people believe Orange is only geared to food and wine," he said.

"[But] people don't just come here to spend money on food and wine."

"Analysis of the category which contains hardware stores shows that 46.6 per cent of expenditure in Orange in this category comes from visitors," he said.

"It's a similar number with local department stores. The discount department stores and clothing category has 46 per cent of its purchases made by visitors."

Cr Mileto said Orange businesses in these sectors needed to look at online strategies to promote themselves to people outside Orange.

"I would like to see local businesses enhancing their profile in regards to digital marketing," he said.

Cr Mileto said council did get criticised for focussing on Orange's food and wine culture but the data showed council's marketing and promotional activity was paying off beyond tourism.

He said the figures had also showed the grocery and supermarkets' category had the lowest visitor expenditure of all the categories at 29.3 per cent.

"Both overnight and day visitors have a significant impact on the economy. That's why we have a multi-pronged approach to attract people that's aimed at encouraging as many people as possible come to Orange to contribute to the economy."

He said visitors to Orange did not just come from Sydney.

Orange mayor Cr Reg Kidd said the figures would help businesses.

"For retailers, it's crucial to know where your customers are from, so you can market to them," he said.

"A strong business economy means secure jobs."