TGGB sees room to grow in Geelong’s tourism economy

TOURISM Greater Geelong and the Bellarine (TGGB) says the region is not far off meeting a projected shortfall in accommodation over the next decade but will update the figures in its blueprint for the visitor economy in the new year.

Released in February 2019, the Tourism Development Plan identifies key tourism experiences and supporting infrastructure that will meet the needs of existing and future visitors to the region.

The plan states there are nearly 5,600 rooms (including caravan sites) now and draws on four modelling scenarios for predicted visitation to Greater Geelong and the Bellarine.

The mid-point forecast of the scenarios projects the 5.8 million visitors in 2018 will rise to 7.5 million visitors by 2027.

“Utilising this forecast, there will be a need to deliver an additional 1,564 guest rooms in the Geelong and Bellarine region to ensure that the region’s tourism potential is met,” the plan states.

TGGB executive director Brett Ince said the plan laid out the projects to grow the visitor economy over the next 10 years.

“Some of these things have and will change over time, particularly because of COVID-19, so we plan in the new financial year to do some sort of update to this.”

He said TGGB had been pushing for a response to the accommodation shortage “pretty hard” over the past 18 months and, as a result, there was “a strong pipeline of development coming over the next few years”.

Mr Ince said there were about 20 major accommodation projects with 1,228 new rooms and worth a collective $320 million at various stages of development in the works across Greater Geelong and the Bellarine.

“When you do compare it to the estimate for the numbers by 2027, we are short of what we’re estimating, but we’re certainly on a strong road to fill the accommodation shortage.”

He said Geelong, as a regional city, had a gap in branded accommodation, experiential hotels, and the opportunity to open up to new markets to encourage length of stay and overnight visitation.

“As a city that’s so close to Melbourne, if we don’t have growth in our accommodation sector, that does mean it will continue to encourage more daytrip visitation.

“Definitely our transport links are really important to improve, and more carriers coming into Avalon will continue to grow visitation.

“Delivering these important projects for Geelong – the Geelong Convention and Exhibition Centre, stage 5 of Kardinia Park, the Geelong Arts Centre – all of those things will certainly encourage private investment, and Geelong’s CBD will be placed to deliver an experience. That’ll be a different experience to the coastal villages of the Bellarine Peninsula.

“The opportunity here is to have a good stock of accommodation in an urban environment, but then still encourage experiential accommodation.”

He said the goal was for visitors to use Geelong as a hub for a few nights, head out to the Bellarine or the Great Ocean Road for day trips then return to central Geelong for the night-time experience.