After a slow start to the season, grey nomad numbers are apparently booming in the Northern Territory town of Katherine.
According to a report in the Katherine Times, a ‘wetter’ wet season was the reason for the early season slump which saw information centre sales dip 20% compared to the same period last year.
However, Visitor Information Centre manager, Maria Helou, said there had been a major turnaround visitors were now arriving in huge numbers.
“The grey nomads leave home when the weather gets too cold for them, but it was hotter this year so they left later,”
Ms Helou said. “We also had a longer wet season and a lot of places still had restricted access … so far this August has been a lot busier than August last year.”
And July sales at the centre smashed the 2016 record by 35%.
“Tourism in Katherine has continued to grow with latest figures showing an increase in spend within our region,” Ms Helou told the Katherine Times.
In 2015/16 the centre recorded 107,768 people passing through their doors.
In 2016/17 they saw 141,391 people.
Ms Helou said the plan was to do even better in the future.
“At the moment there are buses that just pass by because they haven’t heard enough about Katherine to stay,” she said. “We want to capture those people before they get here to show them there is a lot to do.”
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