Gippsland on show for tourism companies

Baw Baw Shire's most prominent tourist attraction, the historic gold mining town of Walhalla, was showcased as part of major promotion to more than 2000 tourism businesses, wholesalers and retailers from around the world.
The visit followed staging of Australia's largest tourism trade event, Australian Tourism Exchange, in Melbourne last month.
Some of those at the Melbourne event were hosted by Visit Victoria and Sydney-Melbourne Touring on visits to Gippsland attractions such as Walhalla, Wilsons Promontory, Gippsland Lakes, Tarra Bulga National Park, and more than 35 Gippsland businesses.
Destination Gippsland chief executive officer Terry Robinson said international travellers were returning to Australia and he anticipated increased demand along the Sydney to Melbourne coastal route.
We are keen to see more accommodation businesses and tour operators step up work with the international travel trade, he said.
Michael Leaney, owner of the Star Hotel at Walhalla, had a stand at the ATE event that also had a representative of the Walhalla Board of Management, as well as being at Walhalla for the tourism industry visitors.
He said there had been a dramatic cut in support for tourism in the recent state government budget and it was hoped tourism promotion bodies would now work more closely in partnership with the industry to attract more visitors.
The state Opposition stated the budget had cut almost $394 million from visitor economy initiatives including for regional tourism and $17 million from the Destination Victoria program.
It claimed recent visitor survey data from Tourism Research Australia revealed spending in Victoria by international tourist was only 73 per cent of pre-pandemic levels while spending in New South Wales and Queensland had picked up to 96 and 94 per cent respectively of what they had before COVID.