Throngs in thongs descend on coast
THE Geelong region’s overnight population is set to surge by more than 100,000 people for the peak Christmas and New Year period.
City of Greater Geelong peak overnight population data shows the Surf Coast’s population will be almost three times its normal size.
The Surf Coast has a permanent population of 29,402, but will skyrocket to 86,078 at times during summer.
And on the Bellarine Peninsula the population will surge to almost 2½ times its size.
The Bellarine Peninsula has a permanent population of 45,095, which is expected to rise to 112,255 at peak periods.
Under the same modelling, the urban Geelong region would rise from a permanent population of 184,578 to 231,986.
Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine executive director Brett Ince said there were plenty of activities to entertain families.
Mr Ince listed the Portarlington Mussel Festival, Great Australian Beer Festival, Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and Festival of Sails among popular activities.
“The way in which Christmas falls this year is a lot of people have come in during weekend just gone,” he said. “We do see massive influx on Boxing Day and people base themselves particularly on the coast.
“They stay for two to three weeks, which is the peak period, and then some go back to work mid-January but then we again see an influx before Australia Day.”
Mr Ince said while the City of Greater Geelong peak overnight population data was collated in 2017 it allowed the city to prepare.
He said Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine had worked with event organisers to ensure summer were packed with events.
The Great Australian Beer Festival, which is typically held in February, would be in January next year to make the most of the summer boom, Mr Ince said.
Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine has launched a campaign celebrating the region’s scenery.
It hopes the campaign will encourage people to take photos of their fun activities and post them to Instagram with the hashtag #Summer Unleashed before February 29.
A people’s choice vote on the best photo will take place in February.
Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine’s annual report revealed tourism in the region had jumped by 12.5 per cent, with 5.9 million people visiting in 2018-19.
Those visits accounted for 5.5 million overnight stays, worth $1.1 billion to the local economy and supporting 7500 jobs in tourism and hospitality.
International tourists are visiting in increasing numbers, pouring $101 million into the economy.
In the past year, the region welcomed 63,000 overnight overseas visitors and 209,000 day overseas tourists, which is an increase of 11 per cent.
Most overseas visitors are Chinese.