Broken Hill City Council is encouraging residents to buy local for Christmas to help rebuild the economy and support local retailers who have been impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown.
Broken Hill Mayor, Darriea Turley AM said a significant amount of purchasing power is spent outside of the city, and now is the time to support local businesses.
Between September 2020 and August 2021, Broken Hill residents spent $104.7m online and $68.96m in other towns and cities. $7.47m of this was spent in Mildura and $4.24m in Adelaide.
“Our businesses have struggled this year through lockdown and we want to encourage everyone to spend in town so that our businesses remain viable and can continue to provide employment opportunities to our residents,” said Mayor Turley
The data also shows that there was a 23.4% and 36.7% decrease in visitor spend in June and July 2021 because of travel restrictions valued at $3.46m.
“We also encourage residents to support our dining and entertainment sectors with the data revealing devastating impacts on this sector.
“We welcome the announcement of the extension of the Dine and Discover vouchers and urge everyone to download and use them in Broken Hill.
The data shows that in June 2021, $768,000 was spent in Broken Hill on dining and entertainment but in June 2021, when no major restrictions were in place this jumped to $1.66m.
“Now is the time for us to unite and support our local business, especially in the lead up to Christmas. Every dollar spent locally contributes to a strong and vibrant economy and community,” she said.
