Game changers to boost Bellarine’s tourism industry

GAME changers for the Bellarine’s tourism industry include AirAsia’s move to Avalon, a proposed major convention and exhibition facility in Geelong and Portarlington’s passenger ferry, Roger Grant says.

The executive director of Tourism Geelong and the Bellarine, who spoke at a Portarlington Business Development Association meeting last week, said he was looking forward to the impact of international flights coming into Avalon.

“We’re constantly working with Avalon and the airlines to make sure we make the most of this opportunity, and we believe those flights will commence by the end of October this year,” Mr Grant said.

“Now that’s an ambitious target, as they are yet to build a terminal, but Linfox are pretty good at building big sheds.”

Mr Grant is looking forward to the new flights not just from a visitation point of view, but also from a freight point of view, which was important for the Bellarine.

“Those aircraft that will be leaving twice a day – and that’s just to start – and have big bellies, so opportunities to put freight directly into Asia is indeed an intriguing and exciting possibility,” he said.

Mr Grant said another game changer for the Bellarine was a proposed major convention and exhibition facility in Geelong.

“To give you an idea, we have more than 210,000 delegates who already come to Geelong and the Bellarine for what we call business events – meetings, expos and incentive travel – and we are achieving this without a dedicated convention centre.

“We are getting a lot of major events in Geelong but we can’t capitalise on them fully because we don’t have the exhibition space and the meeting space to go alongside that.

“The international air show, all those businesses involved in that have to hold their meetings and exhibitions in Melbourne; why? We simply don’t have the space.”

Mr Grant said the ripple effect of benefit certainly extended well beyond Geelong to the Bellarine.

PBDA president John Rae said tourism was a massive market, which not everyone understood just how much it was worth.

“I do believe the Bellarine and Geelong are in a golden era at the moment and part of that is the ferry and safe harbour.”