Festival music to ears of economy

Bunbury is expected to host more than 20,000 music lovers at Hay Park this Saturday for Groovin the Moo, with tourism experts reporting almost all Bunbury accommodation being close to full capacity.

The City of Bunbury tourism marketing and development manager Michelle McCully said the arrival of visitors provided the city with substantial economic benefits as well as a vibrant atmosphere.

“The positive impact on the City of Bunbury includes the increase in overnight visitation, providing an economic boost on the accommodation and the hospitality industry,” Mrs McCully said.

“Coupled with this is the positive vibe and atmosphere created by additional influx of people.

“With more than 70 per cent of people travelling to the event from outside our region, they get a taste of this vibrant seaside port city nestled in the Bunbury Geographe region and a desire to come back and visit again.”

Mrs McCully said in the past, the festival had always been popular but predicted with the extensive artist line-up this year, the economic results would be ever higher than last year.

“Whilst the economic value of the event has a proven history, results from this year’s event will be analysed to compare trends from recent years,” she saidsaid.

“We would expect with the artist line-up for this year’s GTM, the results should exceed last year.”

Mrs McCully said local businesses also got into the hype of the event, decorating their shopfront windows as they took the opportunity to capitalise on festival-goers and dining out in Bunbury.

Discovery Park Bunbury Foreshore assistant manager Audrey Donnelly said the holiday park was now at 99 per cent full capacity.

“Yes, this is probably close to one of our busiest times of the year,” she said. “It’s great because people book for the two nights as they want to get out to the festival early on the Saturday.” Tourism experts recently revealed GTM was one of the region’s most ideal events to continue hosting as it provided a substitutional amount of economic growth.

“Tourism Research Australia report came out recently with the Bunbury Geographe posting successful results, GTM and other events in our region are the perfect platforms to continue this growth,” Mrs McCully said.

Groovin the Moo is set to kick off at 10.30am at Hay Park, with tickets now completely sold out.