PARTICIPATION numbers were up during this year’s Autumn Colours program with Bathurst Regional Council declaring that the lack of a printed brochure had “no negative impact”.
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When council released the annual program online, rather than its usual printed format, earlier this year it drew an angry reaction from some in the community.
But the move worked, with 25,693 page views on the program’s website (to the end of May), a report by council’s director of cultural and community services shows.
In addition, 84 per cent of all page views originated outside the Bathurst region.
“The absence of a printed program did generate several complaints from members of the local community, though figures suggest that its absence had no negative impact upon overall event attendance,” the report states.
The inaugural Artisan Trades Trail, held in May, was among the most successful events during the three-month program.
“This event was highly successful with over 3000 visitors to the [10] venues. There was an unprecedented increase against the same period last year,” the report said.
As the main ticket seller during the program, the Bathurst Visitor Information Centre had a dramatic increase in numbers from 569 last year to 841 during this year’s program.