The Ballarat region saw 1,692,000 day trippers in the year ending September 2022, according to Tourism Research Australia's National Visitor Survey.

This was less than the 2,417,000 that came over the same period in 2019, before COVID-19 wreaked havoc with the tourism industry.

It's also significantly less than the numbers seen in neighbouring areas such as Geelong and the Bellarine and Bendigo-Loddon which saw 3,667,000 and 2,784,000 visitors respectively.

The Sporting Globe Ballarat owner Anne Alexander said the reduction in tourist numbers was a serious concern.

According to Ms Alexander the business is being propped up by a strong local base, as the number of tourists visiting over weekends and public holidays had noticeably dropped.

"This year, lunchtimes were incredibly quiet, which is generally when we have tourists visit," she said.

"I would say 70 to 80 per cent of people that came in were local people, there weren't a lot of tourists, we did talk to them and ask them where they're from, and there certainly wasn't the same amount of tourists as there normally is."

The lack of tourists during the summer has meant the business is about 10 to 15 per cent down on the same period last year.

For Ms Alexander there are a number of factors to blame for sliding tourist numbers, including the cost of living crisis, but she said the lack of drawcard events had created a void for businesses relying on an influx of visitors.

Ballarat has still been experiencing a number of events postponed or cancelled including Springfest, Ballarat Swap Meet and Rockabilly.

One event that did go ahead, Spilt Milk in December 2022, was a huge boost for businesses.

Ms Alexander said it was a "massive weekend" for them, and it was obvious events like it brought big numbers of people to Ballarat.

"We just have to work together collaboratively to try and make Ballarat a tourism place of choice, and we have a part to play as hospitality and business owners in that as well, one person's not going to fix it," she said.

"If you look at Bendigo and Geelong, and I know Geelong is a much bigger area, they have a lot stronger visitor numbers."

"I think Sovereign Hill is amazing and such a great draw card for the city, but then how do we get them to stay as well?"

Another Ballarat venue owner who chose to stay anonymous said 2023 was the quietest January since they've been operating, including before and during COVID-19.

They said there was nothing driving people to Ballarat over the summer, as the city was "devoid of any events."

While they've had promising conversations with the City of Ballarat, they said the council was moving too slowly when it came to developing new projects.

In contrast, owner of Sovereign Park Motor Inn Tim Canny said they had experienced a normal summer with similar to pre-COVID-19 numbers.

Mr Canny said the past six to 12 months had been a really strong period for them.

"From a business perspective, and I think I speak on behalf of most other motels and accommodation operators, business bounced back pretty well, we're not really upset about the fact we were a bit slower than other regions," he said.

"Obviously as an industry in Ballarat, we'd love to be flying along like the other regions are, but I guess time will tell whether we can improve our performance over the next six to 12 months."

Since the pandemic, daytrip numbers for Ballarat are at approximately 70 per cent of what they were, compared to an 88 per cent recovery in Bendigo and a nearly 80 per cent rebound in Geelong.

Overnight visitors in Ballarat have also reduced over a three year period.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

In the year ending June 2022, overnight visitors were at 660,000 down from 927,000 for the same period in 2019.

This was less than the numbers of overnight tourists in Bendigo-Loddon and Geelong and the Bellarine which both exceeded the one million mark.

Localised statistics published by the City of Ballarat said there were 725,000 overnight tourists in the year ending September 2022, compared to 928,000 in Bendigo and 3,090,000 in the City of Greater Geelong.

While daytrip visitors to Ballarat were listed at 1,589,000 in comparison to 1,921,000 for Bendigo and 3,090,000 for Geelong.

Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.