Merivale owns Quarterdeck in Narooma. Photo: Steven Woodburn.
Narooma has had a bumper tourism season with accommodation fully booked and tour operators and hospitality venues kept busy. That is despite cost of living pressures and a cut in the number of people allowed on Barunguba Montague Island.
Growing numbers of young people are visiting the area and it seems AI has made Narooma a destination for international visitors.
Businesses report that they are still enjoying brisk trade into autumn.
Across the shire visitor spend in January was $58.2 million. Eurobodalla Shire Council said that was up 14.6 per cent from December 2025 and up 1.6 per cent from January 2025.
Sally Bouckley owns Southbound Escapes. It offers bike hire, bicycle and e-bike tours, and cultural tours. It also does bookings for accommodation, tours run by other businesses including boat trips to Barunguba Montague Island, and runs a shuttle service at Narooma Mountain Bike Trails. That gives her unique insights into Narooma’s tourism industry.
“It has been a bumper season except for a few days with bad weather,” she said. “Accommodation has been full and the boats busy. If you speak to the caravan parks they will all say it is incredibly good.”
Victor Lopez Costa is general manager of Merivale in Narooma. Its businesses include Quarterdeck and Queen Chow restaurants, the pub Lynch’s, and Whale Inn and Surf Beach Holiday Park.
Mr Costa said the summer season started slowly but from New Year’s Eve onwards Merivale’s businesses had a “significant spike” in trade.
Narooma’s hospitality venues such as Ice Creamery Cafe have been kept busy. Photo: Marion Williams.
“The town and venues were extremely busy, which ultimately led to stronger results than last year, and the momentum has remained very consistent since then,” Mr Costa said.
A cafe in Tilba experienced the same thing, saying it had not slowed down since Christmas.
Mr Costa said Merivale had noticed a younger demographic visiting the South Coast.
“Many were not necessarily coming only for family holidays, but also travelling with friends or partners which has been great to see.”
Council’s data on visitor spending showed while the biggest spending group of visitors were men aged 65-plus, the fastest growing spending group was women aged 18-24.
Mr Costa said an increase in weddings was another strong influence on the region’s trade.
“Many couples from Sydney are choosing the South Coast as their wedding destination, bringing guests with them who stay locally, host recovery parties and spend time exploring the region,” he said. “Activities like local tours, barbecue boats and visiting hospitality venues all contribute to making the town feel more vibrant and on the map.”
The role of AI that Mr Costa noticed last year in getting Narooma on the radar continued.
“We’ve had several international guests mention they used AI to help build their travel itineraries, and Narooma appeared as a destination for them to visit. A few guests even mentioned this directly while dining with us.”
Barunguba Montague Island draws visitors to Narooma. Photo: Gergo Rugli.
Fears that lower limits on the number of visitors allowed on Barunguba Montague Island would harm the town’s visitor economy proved to be unfounded.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service’s (NPWS) new management plan for the island came into effect on 1 September.
At the time Eurobodalla Shire Council and tour operators were concerned about their potential impact on the charter boat operators’ viability and Narooma’s visitor economy.
The new management plan cut the number of public visitors on authorised short duration tours in any given 24-hour period from 200 to 120.
The maximum number of public visitors on authorised short duration tours at any one time was cut from 80 to 40, and the maximum visitor to guide ratio reduced from 40:1 to 30:1.
NPWS provided minimal data on visitation to Barunguba over the summer holiday season, but said visitor numbers were up from the previous season and the highest number of daily visitors during the summer was 84, well below the daily cap of 120.
“Changes to visitor numbers on Barunguba Montague Island mean that NPWS is now better able to protect the island’s environmental values, visitor infrastructure and provide an improved visitor experience,” a NPWS spokesperson said in a statement.
“NPWS tours remain a highlight for visitors to the region and are promoted on state and international tourism platforms, and through multiple tourism partners,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Bouckley said the new management plan had not made any difference to visitor numbers.
“There were maybe one or two days when people couldn’t get on, otherwise it has been very easy to get people onto the boats,” she said.
