Finding tourism solutions for the Great Ocean Road

RISING fuel prices and ongoing cost-of-living pressures are adding fresh strain to tourism along the Great Ocean Road, with coastal towns such as Lorne among the most vulnerable.

Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism general manager Liz Price said the impact varies significantly from town to town, with some places depending heavily on visitor spending to keep local businesses afloat.

“It can be anything from 40 per cent to 70 per cent in a peak period of the town’s income that is tourism,” Price said.

She said Lorne is particularly susceptible at the moment due to its reliance on summer trade, which was interrupted by the fires in the Otways and the flooding of the Cumberland River.

“We are so dependent on the six weeks of summer,” Price said.

She said the Great Ocean Road, like much of regional Victoria, is part of a “drive market”, meaning fuel prices can influence whether people choose to make the trip at all.

The region, she said, has already seen softening bookings, with Melbourne’s busy events calendar also drawing people away from regional Victoria.

 

In response, tourism operators are focusing on attracting people who can travel outside peak school holiday seasons including retirees, local visitors and international travellers.

“We’re very responsive to what happens,” she said.

Price said for many towns the answer is to encourage shorter, local getaways and slower travel, with visitors picking one base and exploring from there, instead of trying to drive along the whole road.

She encouraged travellers not to think of the Great Ocean Road as a “linear journey” that must be done as quickly as possible.

She also urged locals to holiday in their own backyard.

“There’s lots of amazing places that I think you know are there but often as a local you don’t explore what’s in your own backyard,” Price said.

She said Lorne and other coastal towns need visitors back as quickly as possible, particularly as the off-peak months approach.