VICTORIAN ALPINE RESORTS VISITATION SURVEY REPORT SUMMER 2018/19 Authorised and published by the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002 Copyright. ISSN 978-1-74287-645-0 (online) © The State of Victoria, Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council, July 2019. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria as author. The licence does not apply to any images, photographs or branding, including the Victorian Government logo and the Aline Resorts Co-ordinating Council logo. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0/au/deed.en A PDF copy of this document is available at www.arcc.vic.gov.au For further information on this publication contact the Alpine Resorts Co-odinating Council, phone (03) 9637 9642. Disclaimer: This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council and their employees 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, loos or other consequence which may arise from your relying on any information in this publication. Acknowledgements Photo Credit: Mt Baw Baw Alpine Resort Report: Prepared by Shanaugh Lyon, Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council Summer 2018/19 Visitation Survey Report Chairperson’s Foreword I am pleased to present the 2018/19 Visitation Survey Report, for the period November 2018 to April 2019, produced by the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council as part of its on-going research and survey program. The survey indicated that almost 454,000 people visited the Victorian alpine resorts in 2018/19 during the period November 2018 to April 2019. This is an increase from the previous year of: - 2.3 per cent increase in vehicle numbers; and - 4 per cent increase in visitor numbers Whilst the figures show that there continues to be annual variation it is particularly pleasing to see that visitation growth over the summer period is continuing to trend upwards, on average by 3.1 per cent per annum since occupancy surveys commenced in 2008/09. This report provides consistent measurement and greater understanding of summer visitation, which is important to decision making and policy development to grow year round use of alpine resorts. Visitation to the alpine resorts provides significant economic benefits to the regions and the State, demonstrated by Victorian Resorts Economic Contribution Study by Ernst & Young. On behalf of the Council I would like to thank all Victorian Alpine Resort Management Boards and staff for their ongoing support of this project. Without their assistance to undertake the vehicle and occupancy counts, this report would not have been possible. I trust you find the extensive statistics, charts and other data useful in understanding the visitation patterns to Victorian alpine resorts over the 2018/19 summer period. Arianne Rose Chairperson i Summer 2018/19 Visitation Survey Report ii Summer 2018/19 Visitation Survey Report Executive Summary The 2018/19 summer visitation survey, conducted at all Physical counts of the number of occupants per vehicle Victoria Alpine Resorts from Melbourne Cup Weekend and the purpose of the visit were conducted by Boards until Anzac Day, found that 219,246 vehicles visited the on several days during the survey period. From this data resorts. This was an increase of 2.3 per cent, or it is estimated that almost 454,000 people visited the approximately 5,000 vehicles, compared to the previous resorts in 2018/19. This is an increase of 4.1 per cent, or year’s result. around 18,000 visitors compared to the previous year. The Council and Boards have now been conducting such Notwithstanding, annual visitation growth remains surveys for 11 years. They show that over that period, positive, averaging 3.1 per cent per annum since visitation has generally been trending upwards across occupancy surveys commenced in 2008/09. resorts, notwithstanding that there has been some variability, perhaps due to events beyond the control of Detailed analysis also shows that there is a difference in resorts, such as large scale fire events in some years. visitation characteristics between weekend/holiday Over the decade, the All Resorts results show an annual periods and weekdays, with vehicle occupancy being trend increase in vehicle numbers of 3.2 per cent. higher for weekend/holiday periods than for weekdays. However, this increase is not evenly spread across all Resort staff and resident traffic remains considerable resorts. higher on weekdays. As with previous years, there is a correlation between Ernst & Young (EY) continue to provide estimates for vehicle numbers, holiday periods and on-mountain Victoria on the economic contribution of the summer events. The surveys show that for most resorts, peak season. Considering seasonal visitation and changes in vehicle counts appear to coincide with school holidays economic conditions, EY has estimated the 2018/19 and/or long weekends. The staging of major on-mountain summer season contributed just over $146 million to the events coincident with these key holiday times results in Victorian economy. This level of expenditure resulted in a an additional increase in recorded vehicle numbers. The contribution to total Victorian employment in annual survey results also show that the staging of events equivalent terms of 1,426 jobs; both direct and indirect. outside of holiday times can result in significant increases in visitation compared to non-event, non-holiday weekends. Mt Hotham continues to see large numbers of vehicles visiting and/or passing through the resort. This indicates the tourism significance and popularity of the Great Alpine Road as a regional touring route and as a link between north-eastern Victoria and Gippsland. Mt Stirling saw an increase in vehicles also this year whereas Lake Mountain showed a significant decrease of around 8,500 vehicles and Mt Baw Baw a decrease compared to last year. iii Summer 2018/19 Visitation Survey Report Contents Chairperson’s Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................ i Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................... iii 1. Background .................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................. 2 3. Vehicle Survey – Season Results ................................................................................................................................ 4 4. Vehicle Survey – Weekly Results ............................................................................................................................... 6 5. Visitor Survey Results .................................................................................................................................................. 11 6. Economic Contribution ............................................................................................................................................... 15 APPENDIX 1: Sources .................................................................................................................................................................. 16 iv Summer 2018/19 Visitation Survey Report 1. Background 1.1 The Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council (the summer vehicle numbers, with spot occupancy counts ‘Council’) is a statutory body established under the Alpine introduced during the 2008/09 summer season survey to Resorts (Management) Act 1997. It reports to the Hon Lily better estimate the number of visitors introduced. D'Ambrosio MP, Minister for Energy, Environment and 1.5 Consistent measurement of summer visitation is Climate Change. Council performs a co-ordinating critical to the assessment of the success of actions taken function across alpine resorts, focused on: strategic to increase use of alpine resorts outside of the winter positioning, co-ordination, knowledge and understanding, season. Vehicle counts provide the most accurate means attraction of investment and overall promotion of resorts. of determining visitation. It also provides advice to the Minister on a wide range of alpine resort issues. 1.6 The 2018/19 summer survey builds on the consistent methodology and timing used for previous 1.2 Information on visitation to alpine resorts, both summer surveys. during the winter season and outside the winter season, is important for a wide range of planning purposes including the determination of economic significance. 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 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. 1.4 Historically, recording of summer visitation to alpine resorts has proven to