THE tourists are well and truly back – and spending – if the past week around Portland is anything to go by.

Retailers, tourism operators and accommodation providers contacted by the Observer reported by and large excellent trade during Easter, with the spinoffs continuing during the school holidays.

It is a continuation from last year’s boom, which got a boost as coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions ended or substantially eased, as well as a bumper summer tourism season.

Portland Tourist Association president Joy Hocken said the shire was doing well with the number of tourists.

“There’s a lot of return visitors that came through the pandemic that had never been here before,” she said.

“They’ve discovered parts in their own backyard they’d never been too, which is excellent.”

There were plenty of people around for the school holidays as well.

“That’s boding well for the holidays with a good Easter and a good start to the holidays and I’d say that the town will be fairly well booked for the holidays.

“I think on the South West Coast we’ve done quite well, our numbers are equal if not better than (before the pandemic).”

While the weather might not have been the best for fishing, trade wasn’t bad.

Compleat Angler co-owner Nigel Fisher said apart from a flash flood in the store, things went well, with a similar result to last year.

“Trading was still pretty reasonable considering the weather,” he said.

“Good Friday trading was down a fraction from last year, only due to the weather, but Saturday was great, there was people everywhere.

“The town was pretty well buzzing for most of the day and Sunday and Monday were all right too.

“At the end of the day, like I’ve said to a lot of people, everywhere was booked anyway.

“They’ve booked accommodation 12 or six months (in advance) and they’re going to come anyway, you’ll only get a few cancellations.””

Mark McIntyre of Mac’s Hotel said accommodation bookings were solid and trade in general was up on the previous Easter.

“I don’t think there was much available in town, that was very apparent by Wednesday (before Easter),” he said.

“Our food trade was very strong too and I think the weekend’s been good for the town.”

It wouldn’t be Easter without fish, and Portland Seafoods is evidence of that.

Co-owner Hayley Churchill said trade “went fabulously”.

“It was actually better than we expected,” she said.

“We sold two weeks’ worth of fish in the first three hours we were open on Wednesday morning and we sold so much in the first hour we were open on Thursday.

“It was so well supported – we had well over 100 orders which people came in and collected as well and we sold lots of local crayfish which was great.”

Ms Churchill said trade had continued on a high note after Easter.

“(Wednesday) was a pretty good day and I think during school holidays it will still be quite busy, especially if the weather clears up,” she said.

Matt’s Lotto owner Matt Jowett said Saturday was “pretty crazy” for his business.

“There were quite a few out-of-towners come through,” he said.

“It was a good weekend for us, our chocolate sales were up and the Tatts side of the business was pretty big because we have big draws coming up this week.

“It was also hard to get a parking spot in Percy St.”