SOCCER pitches and basketball courts across the city have been packed all long weekend in what has been billed as a major success for Ballarat.
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City of Ballarat mayor Des Hudson said from all reports this city had been turning on a good show in a bumper weekend for hospitality and accommodation with upwards of 10,000 people in town for Basketball Ballarat's 50th annual junior tournament, which collided for the first time with soccer's Victorian country championships.
This has been the first key pressure test on the city since last year's Commonwealth Games shared hosting duties were pegged on regional Victoria.
The Courier understands one major pub in central Ballarat served 900 meals in one day, let alone the extra bustle to cafes and restaurants, particularly those who continued to trade on the King's Birthday holiday on Monday.
Commerce Ballarat's chief executive Jodie Gillett said this was a fabulous experience for the city, but with rising costs, it would be important to get a good gauge on what spending had been like.
"People are cutting back, especially when it's family orientated," Ms Gillett said. "It's been a huge weekend and fabulous for the city and we love it when it's booked out. It will be interesting to talk to all venues."
Ms Gillett said what was pleasing was spending looked to have benefit the whole city, not just the central business district. This was both due to visitors staying in accommodation spread across the city and, such as with music festival Spilt Milk, locals tending to stay in their own patch for shopping.
The soccer country championships drew families from all major regional centres in the state while the basketball tournament featured teams from country and metropolitan areas and from across the border in South Australia.
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Cr Hudson said this meant a lot of people coming into the city from different directions and wanting to explore a little further afield in surrounding towns. He said, in speaking with his Greater Bendigo counterpart Andrea Metcalf, this was what would be important in the Commonwealth Games - promoting the wider region.
"The benefit with sports tournaments, especially ones that involve kids, is that they bring lots of people to town...People were coming from lots of different directions and wanting to visit places like Buninyong or Sebas. That's an important part of it," Cr Hudson said.
"We want people coming to the region to stay and experience what the region has to offer."
More than 1500 people sold out Kryal Castle's Festival of Magic on Sunday. Steamrail Victoria also had a string of sold out trips between Ballarat and Lal Lal across the long weekend.
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