Winery reveals luxury plans

Bellarine to glamp up

A “GLAMPING” ground in the middle of a winery could soon come to the Bellarine as a popular local business unveils plans to boost its tourism credentials.

Bellarine Estate has lodged plans with the City of Greater Geelong to allow it to develop a glamping – glamorous camping – ground at its Portarlington Rd winery.

The $70,000 plans would see a small seasonal “glamping operation” of up to 20 x 4m and 5m bell tents set up on land behind the existing restaurant, with the tents to be set up and packed away as needed.

“Coastal Glamp would operate between November and April (inclusive) only,” planning documents noted.

“At capacity, the proponent would have 20 tents available for accommodation.

“Each tent has a capacity of up to four persons for a maximum capacity of 80 people on site at any one time

“Glamping would only operate from Friday noon-Monday 10am and public and school holidays only.

“There would be no midweek operations outside of these times.

“All tents and furniture would only be erected as and when needed. Staff would erect the tents the day prior to arrival and disassemble and stored when the stay has completed.”

The planning application for the glamping development notes the city’s policies aiming to boost the region’s tourism credentials, arguing the project would help it do so.

“Geelong and the Bellarine … attracted 5.8 million visitors in 2018, comprised of 2.3 million overnight visitors and 3.5 million day trip visitors” (Greater Geelong and the Bellarine tourism development plan 2019-2022),” the documents noted.

“It is estimated that visitation to the region will grow to 7.5 million visitors and total expenditure to $1.7bn by 2027 (Greater Geelong and the Bellarine tourism development plan 2019-2022).

“There is a recognised demand for tourism and the provision of accommodation locally.

“The above policy recognises the need for building on these strategic assets and calls upon the responsible authority to ‘encourage’ investment that meets demand and supports growth in tourism.”

The planning application will remain open for public comment until October 4.