Jane Emerick
Tourists from the UK are more likely to head to the Surf Coast then anywhere else in Victoria, according to a new study.
But they could soon struggle to find one of their favoured forms of cheap accommodation in Torquay, with the town’s only backpacker hostel up for sale.
The a consultants’ Tourism Research and Impact Assessment study used visitor information to find that most international tourists to the Surf Coast were from the United Kingdom. Visitors from Asia were the majority in the rest of Victoria and Australia, the study said.
he assessment also found that tourists spent $258 million in the Surf Coast during 2006, supporting 1040 jobs.
The spending of tourists on the Surf Coast was the second highest in the state per head of permanent population, at $11,200 for each resident.
Queenscliff was first with around $13,000, compared to $3300 for the general Geelong Otway region, $2600 throughout Victoria and $3100 for Australia.
Torquay councillor Dean Webster said the figures demonstrated the importance of tourism to the Surf Coast.
He said Surf Coast Shire was investigating ways of making tourists spend even more.
“Our tourist strategic plan is looking at ways to make tourism sustainable here.
“We’re fine with having less tourists but we want to have the ones that do come stay longer and spend more money,” he said.
Torquay real estate agent Bryan Hayden said the backpacker hostel and its 1463squaremetre allotment was a “fantastic opportunity”.
The hostel’s future could not be guaranteed because buyers had the choice of either purchasing the land only or a combination of the property and the business, he said.
“This will be a very strategic site in the future, with nearly 40 metres of highway frontage and extremely good vehicle access,” Mr Hayden said.
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