Despite a COVID-19 alert for a number of businesses around the city this week, Dubbo is still expected to be busy for the June long weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Business owners, sporting groups and local attractions have all said there hadn't been much of an impact in booking numbers.
Several sporting events will take place around town including the Positive Rugby Foundation NSW Junior 12 State Championships which will be held at Apex Oval and run for the entire long weekend.
Dubbo Regional Council Manager of Regional Events Kim Hague feels the championships will provide a good boost for the town.
READ ALSO:
"I think the NSW Rugby Union Championships is going to be great for the town," she said.
"The expected economic value is approximately $1.1 million which is fantastic."
Over 1000 people are expected to visit Dubbo solely for the rugby carnival.
"There is about 400 players coming to town with about 1500 visitors over those three nights," she said.
While the weather has been less than ideal, Ms Hague said people will still enjoy what Dubbo has to offer.
"I think everyone will have a great time regardless and they will be out there playing good football," she said.
"The June long weekend is always a good weekend from a visitors perspective as well and even though it is in winter, there is a great deal of visitors coming to the town which is fantastic."
NSW Junior Rugby Union President Ben Gregory is expecting a big turn out to the Dubbo carnival.
"At [Under] 13s you'll have parents, grandparents, cousins and all sorts of stuff there," he said.
"We've tried to get as much Dubbo content on our website and Facebook,"
"Gives a bit of promotion for Dubbo with a Rugby flavour."
Taronga Western Plains Zoo is just one of the attractions who are likely to be busy this weekend with a spokesperson saying there have haven't been many calls after eight locations were confirmed as having been visited by a postitive COVID-19 case last week.
"I've only had one instance where someone has contacted us via Facebook and said they weren't comfortable coming," she said.
"They'd already bought their tickets online and our tickets are valid for 12 months so they could just change their dates.
"So I just provided them with the details on how you go about requesting a date change and they were kind of like 'oh great we still want to come but not kind of right now' but that's the only one I've had.
"Accommodation doesn't seem to be impacted either so I wouldn't say it's had a major impact, but I guess it could be too early to tell."
The spokesperson said the cool weather change could also play a big factor in the amount of tourists the zoo receives.
"I think the weather is probably going to play a bigger factor at this point but you don't know it's very hard to know," she said.
"You won't know until the long weekend passes if it was on par with previous years or if it was down because the worry is there."
There were thoughts tourists would be skeptical about travelling to Dubbo after it was announced on Wednesday afternoon a couple had spent a night in town, and been confirmed as having COVID-19 after their visit.
The owner of PK's Bakery, one of the locations visited by the couple were closed on Friday for cleaning. They said they were following the government's guidelines.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News