The number of tourists visiting the charming historic town of Braidwood have grown significantly following heritage listing last year, Member for Monaro Steve Whan said last week.

"Following Braidwood's heritage listing in July 2006, there has been a noticeable increase in visitation to the historic town, Steve Whan said.

"Visitors to the local Visitor Information Centre grew by over 1,000 to the end of 2006 - a very healthy increase in numbers in just a short space of time, testament to the town's growing popularity.

"Considering that not every visitor driving through town drops into the Visitor Centre, actual numbers would be much higher.

"Of those tourists who come into the Visitors Centre, the vast majority are apparently asking for the historic map, which suggests the increased numbers are due to the heritage listing. I am also told that local real estate agents are noticing an increase in interest of older heritage properties" he said.

"This is positive news for the local community. Heritage listing was a bit controversial at the time, but I am confident we will continue to see the growth in popularity for Braidwood as a tourist destination.

Cheryl Raper, President of Braidwood & Villages Tourism inc, said the Braidwood Visitors Information Centre had certainly seen a sharp increase in heritage-related tourism enquiries since heritage listing in July 2006.

"The visitors centre has seen double the number of visitor enquiries it receives, the overwhelming majority of which are heritage-related enquiries" she said.

"Over the Christmas - New Year period alone, the Bateman's Bay Visitor Centre handed out the entire box of 900 Braidwood Heritage tourism pamphlets I delivered just days before! We knew heritage listing would be good for the town's tourism, but we certainly weren't expecting this level of interest from visitors so soon" said Cheryl.