International visitors are flocking to the Grampians National Park and are staying in the area for longer stretches of time, a recent international visitation report found.
International Visitors stayed for 386,200 nights in the region for the 2016-17 period, up by almost 30 per cent on the previous year ending June, 2016.
Grampians Tourism chief executive Marc Sleeman said the longer international visitors stayed in the region, the more it would help drive visitation and position the Grampians as a must do in Victoria.
“Working to extend visitor’s overnight stays is part of our strategy and it is great to see it working,” he said.
“The Grampians is growing and we want to continue seeing it grow as a major tourist destination.”
Grampians Tourism also hosted a high-level international travel delegation last week.
Up to 19 travel agents from North America, including two Visit Victoria representatives, an international airline representative and coach captain, visited the Grampians and its surrounds.
Mr Sleeman said it was a fantastic opportunity to promote the Grampians region.
“It was their first time ever visiting the Grampians,” he said.
“They were educated about the region and now they can go back to their customers overseas and sell the Grampians as an exciting international destination.”
The group, Corroboree Western Markets, was educated by Parks Victoria’s David Roberts about the Grampians Peaks Trail and also visited the Seppelts Winery at Great Western.
Corroboree West is an Australia-based trade event coordinated by Tourism Australia and involved a training workshop and familiarisation visits exclusively for qualified Australian specialist agents from the UK, Europe, and the Americas.
About 300 qualified Australian specialists from the following markets will be invited to participate in Corroboree West 2017.
