Tourism groups seek support for the region, as visitation collapses

Tourism Midwest Victoria and Grampians Tourism are helping advocate for the region, after visitation collapsed over the last two months.

Following the negative stories connected to Ballarat, overnight bookings during February and March were reportedly on average down nearly 20 per cent.

Chair of the Tourism Midwest Victoria, John Pandazopoulos, says it’s time to reflect, rebuild and seek support to get visitors back into the region.

“We’re working on an advocacy document to Government and an economic impact assessment,” he said.

“There’s no doubt that the fires alone have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in bookings at the time and in forward bookings, and the bad news has amplified all of that unfortunately,” he said.