Future Victoria: How regional tourism boom could see demand outstrip accommodation supply

A boom in nature-based tourism post-Covid could see demand for accommodation outstrip supply in some popular regional areas.

Ian Royall

@IanRoyall

2 min read

November 12, 2022 - 7:00AM

The influx of tourists to regional areas like Metung is forecast to be so strong that demand for accommodation could outstrip supply within three years.

Future Victoria

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Choose your own adventure. The new trend in Victorian tourism is predicted to be based on the great outdoors.

A range of hiking, cycling and nature-based attractions are already emerging across the state to meet traveller demands, especially with the return of international visitors, post Covid.

And that influx is forecast to be so strong that demand for some regional accommodation could even outstrip supply within three years.

The predictions come as the tourism sector warns of a two-speed travel economy – regional boom, compared to a slower recovery in Melbourne.

Victoria Tourism Industry Council chief Felicia Mariani called for a 10-year blueprint to be developed for Greater Melbourne.

“We are now at a critical juncture in our maturing as a city that requires us to be bold and visionary,’’ she said.

Nature-based tourism is growing in popularity in Victoria. Picture: Phil Hines

Riders at the Haunted Hills Mountain Bike Park, at Herne Park near Newborough in Gippsland. Picture: Supplied

The masterplan would outline how to respond to the slow return of international visitors, fewer international students, and changing workplace trends.

Ms Mariani said Melbourne had to regain its place on the global stage as the best place to visit, live, study, invest and do business.

“Melbourne is the lifeblood of our global reputation as a destination of choice and the events capital of Australia. The state’s visitor economy has a deeply vested interest in its revitalisation and needs to form part of this consideration.’’

The council’s election platform also calls for:

A $70m plan for a Cowes-Stony Point car ferry to link Phillip Island and the Mornington Peninsula.

Create an extra railway station between Lara and Little River to improve access to Avalon

Airport.

Reinstate tourism as an industry that qualifies for free TAFE courses.

The council also found that almost half as many Victorians – 120,000 – were employed in the tourism and events sectors, compared to before the pandemic.

Accommodation was identified as a potential issue by the Invest in the Grampians report which found demand for places for stay would outstrip supply by 2026, as visitation – currently 1.7 million people a year- was tipped to double in the next decade.

The Grampians National Park attracts large numbers of tourists. Picture: Robert Blackburn

Josephina McDonald, owner of the Halls Gap Lakeside Tourist Park. Picture: Jason Edwards

More people, especially from Melbourne were visiting key tourism attractions such as the

the $33 million flagship Grampians Peaks Trail and the Ararat Hills Mountain Bike Trail Project.

Grampians Tourism chief executive Marc Sleeman said he would like to see a range of places for travellers to sleep, including glamping, eco-pods and wellness resorts.

“This report tells us the demand is there, and is only going to increase,’’ he said.

Josephina McDonald came to Victoria from the Netherlands as a backpacker 24 years ago, and has run the Halls Gap Lakeside Tourist Park with her husband Rohan for the past 10 years.

“There’s just something about the Grampians – as soon as you see the mountains, it’s such a different environment,’’ Ms McDonald said.

“All that pressure you are carrying just falls away.’’

The couple in 2019 also bought Grampians Getaway – six pyramid-shaped three-bedroom cabins on a 60-acre property and are now creating the Grampians Retreat of Wholeness, Health & Wellbeing.