Tulip Time delivers $1.8 million to Highlands economy

23 December, 2022Posted in: Community, Delivering, Tourism
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Tulip Time girl

This year’s Tulip Time celebrations have delivered an estimated $1.8 million to the Shire’s economy with a record number of guests visiting the floral festival.

A report presented to Council in December revealed that 61,000 guests visited the Shire’s premier tourism event over the course of the 18-day celebrations.

Council’s Coordinator Tourism and Events Libby Bain said this year’s visitor numbers exceeded all expectations.

“We had 7,000 more guests join us in Corbett Gardens for this year’s event when compared to our last non-COVID impacted event in 2019,” she said.  “Even more impressive is that this year’s record number of guests injected an estimated $1.8 million into our local economy.”

Ms Bain said the estimated income injection did not include overnight accommodation spending.

Ticket sales for this year’s celebrations covered all event costs with additional funds being diverted back into Council projects.

Ms Bain attributed numerous factors to the increased patronage and support.

“The additional days of display, post-pandemic fatigue and new attractions including Tulips After Dark all worked in our favour,” she said.

“A re-occurring comment from guests was that the garden displays prepared by Council’s Parks and Gardens Team were one of the most spectacular in recent years.”

As part of the report presented to Council 42 per cent of guests were first-time visitors, 34 per cent stayed in paid accommodation and almost half of all guests visited another town or village in the Shire.  Ninety per cent of attending patrons were visitors from outside the Shire.

“These figures show that Tulip Time has a Shire-wide economic impact beyond the central display in Bowral.”

“We wish to thank everyone who joined us for this year’s celebrations, both locals and guests from outside the Shire, and look forward to welcoming them back next year,” Ms Bain added.  “We’d also like to acknowledge the many volunteers and ‘Greeters’ without whom we couldn’t operate the Festival.”

Next year’s Tulip Time celebrations are scheduled to run from 19 September to Monday 2 October 2023.

Community members wishing to view the 2022 Tulip Time Festival Outcomes can find the report within the 14 December 2022 Ordinary Meeting Agenda at www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/Council/Council-Meeting-Minutes-Agendas.