VISITATION was up across the board at Bathurst's museums over the spring school holiday period, seeing some experience record-breaking attendance.
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Bathurst Regional Council was able to have all its facilities operating during the holidays in September and October.
A report by council's director of Cultural and Community Services, Alan Cattermole, stated there were nearly 11,500 individual visits to three museums over the two weeks.
There were 3934 visitors to the National Motor Racing Museum, 4240 to the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, and 3242 to the new Bathurst Rail Museum.
Visitation to the Fossil Museum was up 53 per cent compared to the 2019 spring school holidays, while there was a 32.5 per cent increase in visitation to the NMRM excluding the Bathurst 1000 period.
The museum had to be closed over the four days of the Bathurst 1000 last month to comply with the event's COVID-safe plan.
"The strong visitation figures were also consistent with those reported to Bathurst Visitor Information Centre by other attractions operating over this period within the Bathurst region, with accommodation providers also reporting high occupancy rates," Mr Cattermole said.
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Marketing campaigns have been credited as one of the things helping to draw visitors to the region.
"Visitation to the Bathurst region has been sustained since the initial easing of COVID restrictions in June," Mr Cattermole said.
"High visitation over the recent school holidays, with no major regional drawcard events in this period, again demonstrated the underlying strength of the region and the success of the strategic destination marketing undertaken year to date and previous brand building."
Museums were not the only facilities to attract attention during the school holiday period.
More than 85 people attended a program at the Kelso Community Hub facilitated by Mission Australia, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) saw a 55.8 per cent increase in visitation over the spring school holidays compared to 2019, and the library's Take and Make craft kits all booked out.