The annual attendance figures from SSAA Victoria’s metropolitan shooting ranges indicate that shooting has well and truly recovered from the COVID downturn.
The Association operates Victoria’s two largest shooting facilities at Springvale and Eagle Park near Little River, along with several extensive facilities throughout regional Victoria.
Attendance at the Springvale Range, which operates seven days a week, increased 77% year on year, with 36,577 visits recorded*.
SSAA Victoria Facilities Manager, Shaun Doyle, said the increase in visitation was mainly due to unlicensed shooters visiting the range. “The supervised, unlicensed shooting offering at Springvale gives people who are new to shooting an excellent opportunity to get some practical experience in a safe, supportive and fun environment,” Mr Doyle said. “Last year, we had over fifteen thousand non-member visits to Springvale. We know that many of those people go on to complete SSAA Victoria’s Practical Firearm Training Program and take up shooting as an ongoing pastime”.
Last year, attendance at the Eagle Park range was up by close to 50%.
Since reliable data started being reported on the Metropolitan ranges in 2014, attendance at Springvale has increased by over 300% and attendance at Eagle Park has nearly doubled. “When you invest in facilities and offer great services, people come,” Mr Doyle said. “Over the past ten years or so, the Association has invested heavily in upgrading range facilities, innovative training courses and services and events such as ‘come and try’ and ‘Women on Target’ that grow shooting”.
*Visitation to Springvale was impacted 36 days of closure due to COVID lockdowns 2019/20 and 135 days of closure due to COVID lockdowns in 202/21.
Full statistics will be published in the SSAA Victoria Annual Report in early August.
