But guests are staying longer in Ballarat and visitation is picking up, according to Ballarat Regional Tourism Director George Sossi.

He said the ABS accommodation data, released Friday, did not capture the full picture because it did not measure accommodation said with 15 rooms or less.

“Given all the hype Bendigo had with Grace Kelly, there’s not that much difference – five of six per cent difference – and having a major exhibition that attracted 150,000 people, we’re going quite well (in comparison).

“Bendigo has more hotels than us and that’s something to note.”

Meanwhile, he said Ballarat could not be compared to Geelong, which was a larger city.

The average length of stay in Ballarat, according to the figures, was 2.1 days, compared to 1.7 in Bendigo and 1.9 in Geelong.

Ballarat had 45,073 room nights occupied in the three months to March, while Bendigo had 48,630 room nights occupied and Geelong had 58,723.

In terms of guest arrivals, Ballarat had 41,113 compared to Bendigo’s 52,377.

The statistics for room occupancy rates show Ballarat on 53.5 per cent, behind Bendigo (58 per cent) and Geelong (63.4 per cent).

Mr Sossi said March, April and January were the biggest months for tourism in Ballarat, but the city had events all year to overcome winter drops.

He said BRT was currently preparing to launch a major social media campaign titled Ballarat in Bloom, that capitalised on Ballarat attractions moving into Spring.

He said botanical exhibitions, Royal South Street and Springfest were among the popular events in coming months.

Mr Sossi it was encouraging that Ballarat’s number of overnight stays and the length of those stays were increasing, as was expenditure.

But he said Ballarat needed to work to attract more day trippers during peak periods.

rachel.afflick@thecourier.com.au