Geelong leapfrogs Great Ocean Road in visitor rankings

GEELONG and the Bellarine have overtaken the Great Ocean Road as regional Victoria’s most popular visitor destination, according to the latest travel data.

But the Surf Coast remains the most profitable destination in the state as it continues to attract visitors for longer, more expensive stays.

Tourism Research Australia (TRA) data covering the end of last year showed visitors to the regions were opening their wallets while returning to the travel hotspots, with regional expenditure outstripping pre-COVID levels as overall visitation continues to recover.

Geelong and the Bellarine had 5.73 million visitors across day trips and overnight stays last year, ahead of its neighbour the Great Ocean Road, which had 5.54 million.

The data shows Geelong and the Bellarine is rebounding faster from the impacts of the pandemic, with visitation during 2022 just 10 per cent behind the same mark in 2019.

The Great Ocean Road region is about 18 per cent below its 2019 numbers, when it welcomed close to 6.8 million travellers.

But it still maintains an edge for overall expenditure, with the Surf Coast and surrounds raking in $1.55 billion of tourist dollars in 2022 – up about a quarter from 2022.

Geelong and the Bellarine brought in about $1.4 billion, or $362 million more than before the pandemic.

Research manager at the state governemnt’s Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions David Ulbrick said the figures were indicative of strong statewide performance in the latest data.

“Regional Victoria continued to lead the overall recovery with domestic overnight spend in regional Victoria now well above the pre-pandemic performance at $10.4 billion, plus 39 per cent.”

During the depths of the pandemic, industry experts had predicted Australia’s travel industry would not return to full capacity until about 2025-2026.