A STRING of events set for the city this year will kick off with the municipality\u2019s annual Summer in the Parks program.<\/p>\n
This month, the family friendly and free events include three outdoor evening movie screenings at the Garden for the Future.<\/p>\n
On 14 January, movie-goers can enjoy Mary Poppins Returns<\/em>, followed by Red Dog: True Blue<\/em> and Farmageddon<\/em> on 21 and 28 January, respectively.<\/p>\n Manager of tourism and major events\u00a0at the City of Greater Bendigo, Terry Karamaloudis, said he was keen to see Summer in the Parks return.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a staple annual event that the City presents and there\u2019s some really exciting things there for families to be involved in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great relief, I\u2019ve got to say, because it\u2019s been a very challenging two years. To see now the landscape changing where events of a large scale can recommence pretty much unencumbered is very exciting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt heralds a new beginning back to once what we might have called normal.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Karamaloudis said tourism would play an important part in Bendigo\u2019s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with about 4.7 million people visiting the region during pre-pandemic times in 2019.<\/p>\n More than 98 per cent of those were travellers from across Victoria and Australia, and Mr Karamaloudis said he expected they would return.<\/p>\n \u201cThat market is here, it\u2019s alive and well and we think we\u2019ve got very compelling reasons for millions of people to come flooding back to Bendigo and the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really pleasing from our perspective to be able to get on with the regular agenda because we know that it supports business, we know that the economic impact of tourism and event activity underpins jobs in our city and region, and it helps to generate a tremendous positive impact on our economy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a big year of events and it\u2019s going to be fast and furious. That\u2019s exactly what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n