Victorian Alpine Resorts Summer 2010/11 Visitation Survey Report

Victorian Alpine Resorts

Summer 2010/11

Visitation Survey Report

Published by the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council, June 2011. An electronic copy of this document is also available on www.arcc.vic.gov.au.

 The State of Victoria, Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council 2011. This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.

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ISBN 978-1-74287-134-9 (print) ISBN 978-1-74287-135-6 (online)

Acknowledgements: Front cover photo: Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort Management Board & James Lauritz (Photographer) Report: Prepared by Alex Shilton, Principal Project Officer, Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council.

Disclaimer: This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.

VICTORIAN ALPINE RESORTS
SUMMER 2010/11
VISITATION
SURVEY REPORT

JUNE 2011

Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council

ABN 87 537 598 625

Level 6, 8 Nicholson Street (PO Box 500) East Melbourne Vic 3002 Phone: (03) 9637 9642 Fax: (03) 9637 8024 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.arcc.vic.gov.au

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2010/11 – Summer Visitation Survey Report

iii

CHAIRPERSON’S FOREWORD

This is Council’s fourth Summer Visitation Survey Report. It is based on accurate vehicle counts and surveys of vehicle occupants conducted at Victorian Alpine Resorts. The results are an important measure to assist in the determination of the success of current actions in delivering on the vision for Alpine Resorts, namely ‘four season sustainable resorts’.

It is pleasing to see that over the past four summer seasons visitation has generally been trending upwards across Resorts. In 2010/11 it is estimated that some 376,000 people visited the Resorts during the summer survey period, an increase of 8 percent compared to 2009/10. Vehicle numbers increased from 168,000 in 2009/10 to 178,000 in 2010/11, an improvement of 5.8 percent. When winter visitation is taken into account it is estimated that approximately 1.2 million people now visit the Resorts annually.

I would like to record the Council’s gratitude to the Victorian Alpine Resort Management Boards. Without their assistance to undertake the vehicle and occupancy counts, this report would not have been possible.

Des Powell

Chairperson

v

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 2010/11 summer survey, conducted at all Victorian Alpine Resorts from Melbourne Cup Weekend until Anzac Day, found that 178,000 vehicles visited the Resorts. This was up 5.8 percent compared to the results in 2009/10.

This is the fourth such study conducted by Council and the Boards and it shows that over the past four summer seasons visitation has generally been trending upwards at most resorts. The All Resorts results show that after a drop in 2009, corresponding to the 2009 bushfires, visitation appears to have recovered and increased.

There is a strong correlation between vehicle numbers, holiday periods and onmountain events. The surveys show that for most Resorts, peak vehicle counts appear to coincide with school holidays and/or long weekends. The staging of major on-mountain events coincident with these key holiday times results in an additional increase in recorded vehicle numbers. The survey results also show that the staging of events outside of holiday times can also result in significant increases in visitation compared to non-event non-holiday weekends.

Some historical vehicle counts are available for some Resorts. These records show dramatic increases at Mt Baw Baw.

Physical counts of the number of occupants per vehicle and the purpose of the visit were conducted by Boards on several days during the survey period. From this data it is estimated that 376,000 people visited the Resorts in 2010/11. This is up 8 percent compared to 2009/10 and a continuation of an upward trend evident over the past three years.

Detailed analysis also shows that there is a distinct difference in visitation characteristics between Weekend/Holiday periods and Weekdays, with vehicle occupancy of 1.8 to 3.8 for Weekend/Holiday periods and 1.5 to 2.9 for Weekdays.

Once again the Mt Hotham surveys recorded significant numbers of road cyclists utilising the Great Alpine Road, indicating the increasing popularity of high country cycling.

vii

Table of Contents

Chairperson’s Foreword................................................................................... iii Executive Summary..........................................................................................v Background.......................................................................................................1 Methodology .....................................................................................................2 Vehicle Survey Results – Season Numbers .....................................................4 Vehicle Survey Results – Weekly Numbers......................................................6 Historical Vehicle Counts................................................................................11 Visitor Survey Results.....................................................................................13
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

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1. BACKGROUND

1.1

The Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council (the ‘Council’) is a statutory body

established under the Alpine Resorts (Management) Act 1997. It reports to the Hon Ryan Smith MP, Minister for Environment and Climate Change. Council performs a co-ordinating function across Alpine Resorts, focused on: strategic planning, research, attraction of investment and overall promotion of resorts. It also provides advice to the Minister on a wide range of Alpine Resort issues.

1.2

Information on visitation to Alpine Resorts, both during the winter season and

outside the winter season, is important for a wide range of planning purposes. Ski lift companies, accommodation providers, retailers, suppliers, Alpine Resort Management Boards (‘Boards’), as well as various service providers and government agencies, all make use of this information.

1.3

1.4
Visitation during the winter season has been recorded in a systematic way for many years and is now published by the Council on a regular basis.

Historically, recording of summer visitation to Alpine Resorts has proven to be more challenging. Since 2007/08, Council and Boards have conducted a survey of summer vehicle numbers, with the introduction of spot occupancy counts to better estimate the number of visitors introduced during the 2008/09 summer season survey.

1.5

1.6
The current framework for Alpine Resorts, the Alpine Resorts 2020 Strategy,

is based on a vision of ‘four season, vibrant, sustainable resorts’. Consistent

measurement of summer visitation is critical to the assessment of the success of actions taken to increase four season use of Alpine Resorts.

The 2010/11 summer survey builds on the consistent methodology and timing used for previous summer surveys.

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2. METHODOLOGY

Vehicle Counts

2.1

Since the 2007/08 summer season, automatic counters have been

permanently installed on the access roads to each Victorian Alpine Resort. Loops buried in the roads detect passing axles, from which an estimate of vehicles is determined. In some cases the counters have been in place for a period of years and this has enabled some historical information to be presented in this report.

2.2

This summer survey has been undertaken from early November until late

April, i.e. to cover the period from Melbourne Cup Day until Anzac Day. The survey procedures provided for vehicle count information to be collected by Boards on at least a weekly basis.

2.3

2.4
The methodologies employed to analyse the results at each Alpine Resort are set out below.

Falls Creek The Board has recorded vehicle count information for all inbound lanes and the outbound lane at Howman’s Gap entry station since 1994. For the purposes of this report, the vehicle counts of all inbound lanes have been used. The counter was operational for the whole of the survey period.

2.5

2.6
Lake Mountain The Board has a counter at the entry gate that has recorded the number of vehicles entering the resort since 1997. These records have been used for this report. The counter was destroyed during the February 2009. It was subsequently re-instated prior to the 2009/10 survey period.

Mount Baw Baw The Board has a counter at the entry to the village. Incomplete historical records are available for some years back to 2000. The counter was operational for the whole of the survey period. In contrast to other Resorts, Mt Baw Baw deducts the staff/contractor vehicles from its survey results, prior to submission to Council.

2.7

2.8
Mount Buller The Board has recorded vehicle count information for all inbound and outbound lanes at the Mirimbah entry station since 2001. For the purposes of this report, the vehicle count used is the average of the inbound and outbound counts as it is considered to better estimate weekly visitation. The counter was operational for the whole of the survey period.

Mount Hotham The Board installed permanent counters on the Great Alpine Road on either side of the village in late 2007. During the survey period 55 percent of recorded vehicle entries were from the Harrietville direction, with 45 percent from the Omeo direction. The Great Alpine Road is a well used through road with visitors entering the Resort from both directions, thus the vehicle counts from the inbound lanes of both counters have been summed for this report. As the village straddles the Great Alpine Road and has multiple entry points it is difficult to determine whether visiting vehicles are stopping in, or travelling through, the Resort. For the purposes of this report it is assumed that all vehicles counted visited (i.e. stopped at) the Resort. The counters were operational for the whole of the survey period.

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2.9

Mount Stirling

The Board recorded vehicle count information for the inbound and outbound lanes of the Mount Stirling Road at the Mirimbah entry station. During the survey period 49 percent of recorded vehicle movements were on the inbound land of the Mount Stirling Road at the Mirimbah entry station, with 51 percent on the outbound lane. Some of the vehicles recorded will have passed through the Resort on one-way trips, both to or from destinations beyond the Mount Stirling Alpine Resort, and other vehicles recorded will have entered and exited the Resort through the entry station. For the purposes of this survey the vehicle numbers reported comprise 75 percent of total recorded vehicles. This is based on a 50:50 split between vehicles passing through the Resort on one-way trips and vehicles entering and exiting through the entry station. The counter was operational for the whole of the survey period.

Visitor Counts
2.10 To provide an estimate of the number of visitors to Resorts, Boards were asked to conduct a physical count of the number of visitors per vehicle on four selected days during the survey period. The days were chosen to cover a range of school holiday, non school holiday and public holiday periods. The intention was to record the number of visitors, purpose of visit and origin of visitors for each vehicle that entered the Resort on the selected days.

2.11 At Mt Hotham the Board collected information on the number of visitors, purpose of visit and origin of visitors for vehicles that left the Great Alpine Road and entered the central village car parking area. In the case of vehicles travelling on the Great Alpine Road that did not stop in the central village car parking area, the Mt Hotham Board estimated the number of occupants per vehicle.

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3. VEHICLE SURVEY RESULTS – SEASON NUMBERS

3.1

Summary results for weekly vehicle counts during the period November

2010 – April 2011, for each Alpine Resort and the combined figure for all Resorts, are shown in Table 1.

Deleted: Table 1 Deleted: Table 1

Table 1- 2010/11 Vehicle Count Totals

Lake
Mountain
Mt Baw

Baw

November 2010 - April 2011

Total Summer Vehicles

Falls Creek

Mt Buller

Mt Hotham

Mt Stirling

All Resorts

34,142

16,874

649
13,213
508

35,286

66,233

11,882

177,630

Average Weekly Vehicles Minimum Weekly Vehicles Maximum Weekly Vehicles

1,313
788
1,357
660
2,547 1,503 6,224
457 238 926
---

338

248

2,915

1,088

962

3,160

3.2 3.3
During the survey period, a total of 178,000 vehicles were recorded visiting the Resorts.

The figures at Mt Hotham reflect the high volume of through traffic using the Great Alpine Road. To a lesser extent Falls Creek and Mt Stirling also service through traffic.

3.4

The survey shows that there is a marked variation in the vehicle counts

on a weekly basis during the summer season at all Alpine Resorts. Maximum weekly counts are double or three times more than the weekly average vehicle counts at most Resorts, with minimum counts mainly less than half of the average weekly counts. Further analysis is contained in the following section.

3.5

Table 2 compares the 2009/10 summer vehicle counts with the previous

summer’s results.

Table 2- Vehicle Count Change - Since 2009/10

Lake
Mountain
Mt Baw

Baw

Falls Creek

Mt Buller

Mt Hotham

Mt Stirling

All Resorts

2010/11 (Nov - Apr)

34,142

16,874

13,213

13,595
-2.8%

35,286

66,233

11,882

177,630

2009/10 (Nov - Apr)

36,328
-6.0%
11,642
44.9%
30,995
13.8%
62,661
5.7%
12,741
-6.7%
167,962
5.8%

Percentage Change 2009/10 - 2010/11

3.6 3.7
The table shows an increase in total vehicles of 5.8 percent in 2010/11 compared to 2009/10. In the case of Lake Mountain, it is likely that the very large percentage increase in 2010/11 compared to 2009/10 is a result of construction traffic associated with the extensive building program subsequent to the February 2009 bushfires.

Vehicle Counts from 2007/08 for each Alpine Resort and for All Resorts are shown in Figures 1 and 2, below.

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Figure 1

Summer Vehicles (Nov - Apr)

70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000
-

FallsCreek

LakeMountain

Mt BawBaw

Mt Buller

Mt Hotham

Mt Stirling

2007/08(Nov - Apr)

2008/09(Nov - Apr)

2009/10(Nov - Apr)

2010/11(Nov - Apr)

Figure 2

Summer Vehicles (Nov - Apr)

200,000 180,000 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000
-

All Resor ts

2007/08(Nov - Apr)

2008/09(Nov - Apr)

2009/10(Nov - Apr)

2010/11(Nov - Apr)

3.8

Figure 1 shows that there is some variability at individual Resorts.

However, Figure 2 shows that over the past four summer seasons visitation has generally been trending upwards across Resorts. Figure 2 also shows that after a drop in 2009, corresponding with the 2009 bushfires, visitation appears to have recovered and increased.

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4. VEHICLE SURVEY RESULTS – WEEKLY NUMBERS

4.1

Figures 3 to 8, below, show weekly vehicle numbers to the six Victorian

Alpine Resorts during the survey period. For comparison, weekly results from the 2009/10 survey period are also shown. Figure 9 shows aggregated vehicle counts for the six Alpine Resorts. Victorian school and public holidays for 2010/11 are also shown shaded on the figures. Key events conducted at Alpine Resorts in 2010/11 are listed below each figure.

4.2

As was evident in past surveys, there is a strong correlation between

vehicle numbers, holiday periods and on-mountain events. For most Resorts, peak vehicle counts appear to coincide with school holidays and/or long weekends; traditional holiday times in which Victorians travel. There are significant increases in the number of vehicles during Christmas / New Year, Australia Day, Labour Day and Easter periods. The staging of major on-mountain events coincident with those key holiday times results in an additional increase in recorded vehicle numbers. The survey results also show that the staging of events outside of holiday times can also result in significant increases in visitation compared to non-event non-holiday weekends.

Figure 3

Falls Creek Summer Vehicles 2010/11

4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,50 0 1, 0 0 0
500
0

W eek Ending

2 0 10 / 11 V i c t o r i an Ho l i d ay s

2 0 10 / 11 V ehi c l es

2009/10 Vehicles

Events: Mile High Cricket – Boxing Day; Big Fella Festival – New Year; Billy Cart Derby & Bush Bash – 8-9 January; Dragon Boat Races, Audax Cycling Classic - Australia Day; Mile High Tennis – 19 February; 3 Peaks Challenge – Labour Day; MTB Epic – 20 - 26 March; Artists’ Camp – 26-27 March; Family Carnival, Dawn Service – Easter, Anzac Day.

- 7 -

Figure 4

Lake Mountain Summer Vehicles 2010/11

1,400 1,200 1,000
800 600 400 200
0

W eek Ending

2010/11Victorian Holidays

2010/11Vehicles

2009/10 Vehicles

Events: Granite Grind MTB, Marysville Lake Mountain Cycle Challenge – 26 February; Lake Mountain Music Festival – 13 March; Easter Walk.

Figure 5

Mount Baw Baw Summer Vehicles 2010/11

2,000 1, 8 0 0 1, 6 0 0 1, 4 0 0 1, 2 0 0 1, 0 0 0
800 600 400 200
0

W eek Ending

2010/11Victorian Holidays

2010/11Vehicles

2009/10 Vehicles

Events: National Mountain Bike Downhill Event- 7-8 Jan; Audax Bike Ride – 26 February; State Downhill MTB Event – 5-6 March; Baw Baw Road Cycling Classic – 10 April.