Tamworth businesses booming during sports-filled weekend bonanza

No vacancy signs were lit up, tables full and venues bustling after multiple high-profile sporting events delivered a huge influx of visitors to the country music capital.

Sports fans came from far and wide to enjoy several events, including Tamworth Gymnastics' Country Capital Cup, the Tamworth Baseball June Carnival, and the NSW Country Rugby Championships.

"Over quite a number of years the council has spent quite a lot of time and effort with sporting bodies around the city and around the region to create sporting facilities that are second-to-none in regional centres in Australia and it's now paying off," Tamworth Mayor Russell Webb said.

"What this does for the regional economy is it brings a lot of money into town with a lot of people.

"They stay in motels, they eat, they spend money in our shops, and while this is happening it's very beneficial for our business community."

Cafe Vivaldi owner Dinesh Goyal said the number of patrons visiting his CBD cafe "almost doubled," especially on the King's Birthday public holiday when many other businesses were closed.

"Lots of sports people came in the morning, and they spread the word to others that we're open, and they all came in at once," he said.

"It's not quite what we'd get during the country music festival, but it's pretty close to it."

Central Hospitality Group director Jye Segboer said the intense influx of visitors pushed staff at hotels and restaurants to their limits.

"Capacity is a challenge for some of those groups because it has almost become a similar number people coming to town as what we see on any given day during the [country music] festival," Mr Segboer said.

"If some of that business was spread across different weekends instead of all trying to come in to the same weekend, it would help not only the economy but also the visitor in terms of lowering their spend and increasing their ability to come to the event."

Mr Segboer said he recommends event planners make use of Destination Tamworth's new 'One More' platform to better schedule and promote events in the region.

"It's something a lot of us in the tourism and hospitality industry have been asking for for a long time and it's great that that resource is now available," he said.

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Hoteliers already had the no vacancy signs ready last month.

Owner of the Roydon's Motor Inn Esther De Ferranti said the bookings were confirmed a year out.

"There's gymnastics, dance, rugby and that and we're full from that - that get booked out like 12 months in advance," Ms De Ferranti said last month.

"The June long weekend is almost like the country music festival, people walk in and say can we have that room again next year, they book 12 months out now."

The National Cutting Horse Association of Australia (NCHA) Futurity, booked out the AELEC for two consecutive weeks and is estimated to have pumped $2.3 million into the Tamworth economy.

Tamworth's surrounding areas were also bustling with the crowds, with hotels in Manilla filled to capacity during the town's annual Vintage Machinery Rally.

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