THOUSANDS of people flocked to Ballarat at the weekend in a major tourism boost for the city.
Figures obtained from Ballarat Tourism show the number of bednights, or overnight stays, in the city jumped 37.6 per cent at the weekend compared to this time last year, while visits to the Ballarat Visitor Information Centre
increased seven per cent to more than 2600.
Revenue, calculated from the cost of rooms, was also 41 per cent higher than that generated during last year's Queen's Birthday weekend, the figures show.
Ballarat Tourism executive director Annie De Jong attributed the increases to three major sporting events hosted by the city, namely the 34th annual McDonald's Junior Basketball Tournament, which featured more than 220
teams from across the country, the three-day Victorian Provisional Baseball Championship and the Ballarat Indoor Bias Bowls Association Inter Group Championship.
She said the Model Railway Spectacular held at the Eastwood Leisure Centre and a scarf exhibition at the Robert Clark Centre had also contributed to the bumper weekend.
"The figures are up significantly from this time last year, which is great news for Ballarat," she said.
"Our accommodation was almost fully booked out which is really fantastic, and in talking to the staff, it appears there were a lot of walk-ins."
Ballarat Lodge assistant general manager Alastair Kay said all of its 71 rooms were occupied across the "very busy" holiday weekend.
Of the visitors, about 95 per cent were here for leisure, with almost a third travelling from interstate, he said.
"It's been a very busy weekend and very good for us," he said.
"Overall, it was a great weekend for Ballarat as a whole."
Barkly Motor Lodge manager Rebekah Djumadi described the weekend as one of the busiest of the year.
"We were fully booked out, with about 95 per cent here for the basketball tournament," she said.
"It's definitely the busiest weekend of winter and one of the busiest of the year."
Ballarat restaurants also reaped the benefits of the visitor influx.
Agostino's owner Gus Raschilla said he served 1800 meals across the long weekend and reported a "constant flow of people all day and all night".
"We had tremendous support from the basketball teams. They were fantastic," he said.
Park Hotel Bistro TAB manager Brett Keating said its kitchen prepared 800 meals between Friday afternoon and Saturday night - double the usual number.
Visitor boost for the region
