Hot air balloons draw tourists to Northam in winter

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

Colour and light filled the skies in Northam during Western Australia's long weekend as the Wheatbelt town marketed itself as the "ballooning capital of Australia".
Hundreds woke up to foggy skies in the Avon Valley, 100 kilometres east of Perth, to admire the hot air balloons over three mornings, before 8,000 visitors flocked to see the balloons light up at night, in time to rock tunes, for the Elevate Festival.
A major drawcard of the Northam long weekend line-up was the inflation of the Skywhale and Skywhalepapa hot air balloons that were designed and made by Patricia Piccinini.
Piccinini's artworks are travelling around the country with Northam one of six national showings.
For a hot air balloon to take flight, on-ground wind speeds must not exceed 10 kilometres per hour, and the Avon Valley largely protects the area from such wind speeds.
Unfortunately, due to unfavourable weather conditions, Piccinini's balloons were unable to take flight over Northam, instead tethering and putting on a show from the ground.
Shire of Northam president Chris Antonio said the town's ability to embrace the cool conditions of the Avon Valley that were ideal for hot air ballooning, and turn them into a thriving tourist economy, was vital to the growth of the region.
"Leveraging our unique climate and tying it in with ballooning is more important than I probably even realised," he said.
"Traditionally in WA, tourism booms through the sunny months of the year, but we've been able to make tourism work in the peak of winter — that's our busiest time of year.
"We are able to position ourselves as the ballooning capital of Australia."
Mr Antonio said the town, which traditionally operated as a service town for smaller Wheatbelt communities, had previously struggled to establish a strong brand with tourists, but through hot air ballooning had become competitive with other tourism regions of the state.
"But when winter comes, we have the flowing Avon River and the hot air balloons.
"You can't do that in other places. That is our point of difference."
Speaking at the Wheatbelt Futures Forum in Northam in May, North Eastern Wheatbelt TRAVEL's Linda Vernon said there was limited data on tourism in the region as a whole, with more focus on areas such as the South West.
Despite limited data, she said there had been growth in visitor numbers to the Wheatbelt over the past decade that indicated an appetite for going inland.
"The tourism space in the Wheatbelt is still immature and emerging," she said.
Ms Vernon said feedback from tourists indicated that drawcards were niche events allowing visitors to connect with residents.