As far as attractions go in the Peel region, the local shopping centre might not be the first thing that springs to mind.
However, the recently redeveloped Mandurah Forum is pulling its weight in attracting people to the coastal city, with half a million visits tallied on average, per month.
In March 2018, the Pinjarra Road centre was officially opened after a $350 million transformation.
The project expanded the outdated shopping precinct to welcome more than 190 specialty stores and a new-look layout.
In October, data from the Tourism Research Australia’s National Visitor Survey for the 12 months to June revealed the region was the state’s top day trip destination.
More than 2.8 million people reportedly chose the Peel region as a day trip destination in 2017/18.
A 23 per cent increase from the previous year.
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The number of nights interstate and intrastate visitors stayed in the Peel region also increased in 2017/18, up 20 percent to 2.4 million.
Along with the Peel Zoo, Yalgorup National Park and “world-class” beaches in the area, Mandurah Forum centre manager Jacqueline Mckenzie highlighted the shopping precinct as a key attraction in the region.
“We expect tourism and population numbers to continue to grow in the Peel region and our recently completed $350 million redevelopment of Mandurah Forum has been designed to ensure the centre responds to the growing needs of the local community as well as its visitors and become a true ‘community hub’,” Ms Mckenzie said.
“The new ‘Heart of the South’ is welcoming more than 500,000 visits on average each month.”
She attributed those numbers to the introduction of a range of new retailers including big-name stores such as David Jones, H+M and Mecca.
Ms Mckenzie also highlighted the casual alfresco dining area, which boasts a large water feature, boardwalk and palm trees to “pay respect to Mandurah’s love and fascination with the outdoors”.
“We’re expecting numbers to swell as we enter the Christmas holiday period and thousands of people make their way to Mandurah and the greater Peel region for great, consistent weather during summer holidays,” she said.
“We are seeing the Peel region grow in popularity as a tourist destination, including for day trips, with numbers of day-trippers growing to more than 2.5 million per year.
“We are supportive of a shared vision across government, local business and the community to continue developing Mandurah into a great, sustainable tourist destination for years to come.”
Mandurah and Peel Tourism Organisation (MAPTO) chief executive officer Karen Priest said the announcement of an increase in visitor numbers was great for the whole region, not just tourism and hospitality businesses.
“Visitors use a variety of services and shop at a range of retail outlets, meaning the flow on benefits are wide-reaching,” Ms Priest said.
“I believe the jump in numbers is also attributable to the ever-increasing range and quality of tourism offerings in the region, as well as new infrastructure such as the re-developed Mandurah Forum.”
Mandurah Forum is co-owned by Vicinity Centres and ISPT. Vicinity Centres specialises in the ownership and management of more than 90 Australian shopping centres.
Vicinity Centres is one of the fifth largest shopping centre owners in Australia, along with Scentre Group, QIC Global Real Estate, Stockland Property Group and AMP Captial Investors.
The most recent data from the Shopping Centre Council of Australia revealed there were 1,753 shopping centres nationally which exceeded 1,000 square metres of gross lettable area in August 2015.
These comprised of 67 regional shopping centres, 286 sub-regional centres and 1,104 neighbourhood or supermarket-based shopping centres and 107 CBD centres.
According to the Urbis Australian Shopping Centre Industry report, these shopping centres contain more than 65,000 speciality shops.
What do you think of the redeveloped Mandurah Forum? Would you consider it an attraction in the region? Share your opinion with our team via editor.mandurahmail@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
Follow Caitlyn Rintoul on Twitter via @caitlynrintoul.