Mary Valley Rattler delivers gold for Gympie tourism

Edited by Travel Weekly

Gympie’s Mary Rattler welcomed 28,137 passengers for the 2023-24 financial year, a record figure for its fifth year of operation and well ahead of the 10-year projection forecast in 2016.

Rattler Railway Company chair, Ian McNicol, said the Rattler’s ability to draw intrastate, interstate, and international travellers to the Gympie region will be crucial for the future of the area’s tourism industry, with the scheduled opening of the Gympie Bypass later this year.

“Gympie is going to need a strong collection of attractions to get travellers to deviate from the Bruce Highway and come into the Gympie town centre,” McNicol said.

“Our results over the past year, despite the cost-of-living crisis and an overall decline in domestic travel to Queensland this year, prove that the Rattler is a powerful asset and tourism generator for the Gympie region.

“We not only attract visitors but also support a wide range of other businesses and community groups operating in the region and generate over a million dollars of tourism publicity for Gympie. The brilliant efforts of our team and inspirational volunteers have been instrumental in establishing the Rattler as Gympie’s number one tourism attraction, based on Tripadvisor ratings. We’ve also received a 4.7/5 rating on Google.

“The fact that the performance in 2023-24 was well ahead of original predictions is even more commendable given we had massive impediments caused by Covid and floods over the past four years. This has burdened the operation with significant capital required for track and infrastructure maintenance that other heritage tourism railways – such as Kuranda in Cairns, Puffing Billy in Victoria and West Coast Wilderness Railway don’t have to cover. These are the heritage railways that the Mary Valley Rattler was benchmarked against in the business plan.

“If we are going to be able to contribute fully to keeping Gympie’s tourism sector on track once the bypass goes through, we will need comparable State Government funding to ensure we can continue the performance achieved last year.

“Bypasses of this magnitude can be both positive and negative for regional communities. As long as there are enough incentives for travellers to deviate from the bypass and come into the town centre, then the bypass should not have such an adverse impact on Gympie and the Mary Valley region. But we have to ensure that our tourism attractions and businesses are operating at their absolute best to persuade travellers that we are worth visiting.

“The Mary Valley Rattler is an iconic attraction, and we receive outstanding comments from travellers from all over Australia and the world who have come to Gympie for the heritage experience. Gympie is rich in history and if we can leverage that history and bring it alive, we are confident that we can continue to entice visitors to make the detour and come to Gympie after the bypass opens.”

President of the Gympie Chamber of Commerce, Martin Muller, said tourism is an integral part of the Gympie Region and is one of the key economic levers.

“Council advises that tourism contributes $112 million in sales output and an extra $66 million of added value to our region. Leading the way in brand recognition for Gympie is the Mary Valley Rattler,” Muller said.

“This great not-for profit enterprise welcomed over 25,000 visitors to our region last year from around Queensland or as far afield as Iceland, and all have experienced the warmth and good cheer of our region.”

Visit Sunshine Coast (VSC) CEO, Matt Stoeckel, emphasised the importance of the Rattler in promoting the region’s attraction to potential visitors.

“The Mary Valley Rattler is a must-do experience for interstate and international travellers coming to the Sunshine Coast region,” Stoeckel said.

“It puts Gympie on the map with a massive 87% of the Rattler’s passengers coming from outside the region. With the scheduled opening of the bypass later in the year, it’s attractions like the Mary Valley Rattler that will continue to support Gympie’s tourism industry by influencing visitors to turn off the highway and visit the town.”

Mary Valley Rattler is a major contributor to local charities and community groups in the Gympie region. In the past year, it has supported a wide range of regional events, including the Gympie Music Muster, GourMay Mary Valley, Shine Music Concert, Rally Queensland, Heart of Gold International Film Festival, Kilkivan Great Horse Ride, and the Gympie Show Society.

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Mary Valley Rattler