Flagstaff Hill has had its busiest four-day period in recent memory that wasn’t tied to a major event such as New Year’s Eve.
A total of 2054 people visited the museum and village between September 22 and 25. This is more than double the corresponding period in 2019 (982) and 2018 (837), keeping in mind that these were three day long weekends instead of four.
Numbers peaked on Saturday, with 656 visitors – making it the biggest day for the award winning attraction - outside of New Year’s Eve and Easter Day on the Hill celebrations - since at least 2014 but most likely much longer.
The Tales of the Shipwreck Coast sound and light show sold out for all four nights over the long weekend too.
The adjoining Warrnambool Visitor Information Centre was also very busy - with enquires on par with the already busier than usual Easter period this year.
This continues a trend of increased visitation numbers at Flagstaff Hill in recent times.
Warrnambool Mayor Cr Vicki Jellie said that it was great to see so many people learning more about the museum’s rich collection of shipwreck artefacts and exploring the village.
“The four day long weekend was incredibly busy for Warrnambool, which was terrific news for our local businesses across the hospitality, retail and tourism sectors especially,” she said.
“Looking at Flagstaff Hill not just this weekend, but over the past year, visitation is well and truly up, even on pre-pandemic levels.
“It’s a credit to the hardworking staff and volunteers at Flagstaff Hill and the Visitor Information Centre who provide an experience that is really valued by visitors to Warrnambool - Flagstaff Hill has an average rating of 4.5 out of five stars on popular travel website TripAdvisor based on over 900 reviews.
“With one week of school holidays left, now is a great time to visit with lots of hands-on activities to get involved in as part of the holiday program.
“There’s always something new to see from the museum collection too, and it’s an area staff have been working hard on recently with their research and cataloguing. This has been recognised with Flagstaff Hill being shortlisted for the Victorian Collections Award for Excellence in Museum Cataloguing, which is a great achievement.”
For more information about the attractions and activities visit www.flagstaffhill.com