LACKING IN LUXURY DIGS
THE Geelong region desperately needs more “high-end” accommodation to fully capitalise on the tourism market, the city’s tourism chief says.
Tourism Greater Geelong and Bellarine director Roger Grant said the region “needs additional rooms” and luxury accommodation to cater for more international and domestic tourists.
Visitors from Melbourne and other regional cities took advantage of the Queen’s Birthday weekend and travelled across the Bellarine Peninsula to wineries and events like the Celtic Festival.
“We’re really lucky with such beautiful weather and quite an array of events (this weekend),” Mr Grant said. “The place was really booming and it is terrific for this time of the year.”
Melbourne residents Ellen Sheil and Stephen Millar, originally from Ireland and Northern Ireland, made their first trip to Torquay over the weekend to visit friends.
Mr Millar said the coastal town’s main strip was very busy with locals and tourists taking the opportunity to enjoy the winter sun and take in the beautiful scenery.
“We went to the foreshore — it was lovely. We will definitely be back,” Mr Millar said.
Mr Grant said Geelong’s proximity to Melbourne was a major drawcard for tourists looking to escape for mini-breaks.
“Pretty much everywhere (was busy). One of our big challenges is that we do need additional accommodation. We are quite stretched,” Mr Grant said.
“At the moment we are at about 5.3 million visitors (per year) and by 2030 that will be seven million (per year). During this peak time accom- modation is quite stretched and it does highlight that we do need additional rooms to cater for the market.
“What’s really interesting is that we need to not just be catering for the functional needs — people are looking for an experience and simply providing a bed is not good enough because we are missing the top end.”
Mr Grant said the opening of Geelong’s first new hotel in almost 20 years would help fill gaps in the market, with hotel giant Holiday Inn last year announcing it had signed an agreement to open and operate a 190-bed property at 44 Ryrie St.
The hotel, pegged to open in 2020, is set to include an all-day dining restaurant and bar, swimming pool, gym, parking and 300sq m of meeting facilities, including a function room for 250 people.
Meanwhile, a $3.5 million refurbishment of the Novotel Geelong hotel will see every guest room at the waterfront hotel get a modern upgrade.
Work is under way on the first major renovation project at the hotel since it opened in 2001. One floor of 22 refreshed rooms has already been unveiled, with all 109 rooms scheduled for completion by November.