The zoo recorded its best-ever December result, with "exceptional visitation between Christmas and New Year in particular", director Steve Hinks reported.

Guests have continued to beat a path to Dubbo's premier tourist attraction, with this month already being a record for January, despite not yet being at an end.

"This has continued into January with just under 40,000 guests through our gates during the school holidays and still the Australia Day long weekend to come," Mr Hinks said.

The zoo director reports much of the boom stems from within NSW.

"We are seeing a lot of visiting from other regional and coastal areas in NSW as well as Sydney as there has been a strong drive to visit regionally in NSW due to uncertainty around borders," Mr Hinks said.

"It is really positive to see people exploring all the amazing places we have to offer in regional NSW."

Staying overnight is also proving popular.

"[The] zoo's accommodation experiences at Zoofari Lodge and Savannah Cabins have been fully booked across the school holiday period," Mr Hinks said.

"Whilst there were some cancellations due to state border closures and lockdowns, the demand has been such that we have picked up more than we have lost."

At Savannah Cabins guests are staying an average of about 2.4 nights, which is above the average stay of two nights for the Dubbo region, Mr Hinks says.

He reports tourism contributes more than $300 million to the local economy, which "doesn't just benefit tourist attractions".

"The flow-on effect sees money being spent in pubs, cafes and in local shops," he said.

"It is such a great boost to our regional communities that have done it really tough over the past three years with the impacts of drought and COVID-19."

Sales of the Great Big Adventure Pass, a multi-ticket to the zoo and other local attractions, are up more than 126 per cent compared to last Christmas holidays, Dubbo Regional Council reports.

Occupancy was up a 36.1 per cent across the whole LGA compared to December 2019, with a total occupancy of 79.2 per cent in December 2020, it said.

Dubbo mayor Ben Shields says the latest tourism market report compiled by the council shows that COVID-19 travel restrictions positively affected occupancy rates, and with timely and positive marketing has seen a continued interest in regional travel to the region.

"Quite a few of our accommodation providers noted that despite the travel restrictions, there were still people coming from Sydney and surrounds, and family groups were also choosing to meet in Dubbo over Christmas," Cr Shields said.

Visitation at the Old Dubbo Gaol was high on peoples' holiday agenda, with 5130 people walking through the gates.

That's an increase of 105 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

"The Old Dubbo Gaol is going gangbusters, but so are the other tourism facilities in our region," Cr Shields said.

"The Wellington Caves also had a 51 per cent increase, despite still having to enforce COVID restrictions on tour groups with 3138 visitors popping into our new state-of-the-art Visitor Experience Centre to head down underground.