Bathurst Business Chamber says regional travel's return will boost local spending

From November 1, visitors from metropolitan Sydney and surrounding local government areas will be allowed back into Bathurst for the first time since late June, and with NSW edging close to 90 per cent vaccinated, more freedoms are expected over the coming days to weeks.

Ms Fitzsimons said the Chamber is excited at the prospect of people being able to come into the region again.

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"From Monday, there's bound to be an increase in spending at our hospitality and retail venues, which will hopefully provide much needed relief for local businesses after a tough year," she said.

"We've got a number of big events coming up as well, with the races in December for example, so we're hoping local spending and patronage will increase in the lead-up to the Christmas/New Year period."

Ms Fitzsimons said she's eager to see how the rules wll change once NSW hits 90 per cent, where it has been previously stated by the state government that freedoms will return for the unvaccinated.

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"At this stage, businesses need to comply with these check-in procedures and vaccination checks, which can be a stressful exercise, but with unvaccinated people to be free at 90 per cent, my understanding is vaccination proof will no longer be necessary," she said.

"As restrictions further ease, it'll only make people feel more comfortable going out in the community and spending time and money."

Ms Fitzsimons said the Chamber is planning to up the 'Keep It Local Bathurst' campaign in 2022 to help the local business sector recover from a difficult two years.

Bathurst Regional Council tourism and visitor services manager Dan Cove said there's already been significant interest from visitors wishing to book local accommodation for the remainder of the year and into 2022.

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"If you compare forward accommodation booking from November 1 to January 31 next year in comparison to the same period last year, average occupancy is up 55.9 per cent," he said.

"It goes to show it's not just the Bathurst 1000 that's set to bring people here in the coming months."

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