By Derek Schlennstedt
Visitor Information Centres at Healesville and Upper Ferntree Gully are set to close in June this year following a significant decrease in the number of walk-in visitor inquiries.
Yarra Ranges Tourism announced the decision following a detailed review of the role and function of the centres, including research that showed a substantial increase in online booking channels and a reduction of walk-in visitors.
Simon O’Callaghan, Yarra Ranges Tourism CEO, said that the rapid growth in online services has given tourists greater access to information and accommodation bookings for tourism operators in the area.
“The tourism sector has changed substantially over the past five years, with a variety of online travel agents such as Airbnb and Booking.com now available for people to plan their trips and book accommodation for any destination in the world,” he said.
Both Healesville and Upper Ferntree Gully Visitor Information Centres had experienced a steady decline in inbound calls and walk-in visitors which Mr O’Callaghan said had contributed to the decision.
“The two centres combined received inquiries from less than 0.01 per cent of the six million visitors who have come to our region over the past few years,” he said.
“In 2016, around 23,400 tourists visited the centres – down 33 per cent from three years ago. Inbound visitor calls also dropped by 58 per cent over the same period,” he said.
The research projects undertaken by Tourism Victoria and the Victorian Tourism Industry in 2013 identified that locations close to Melbourne, including the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges, had some of the lowest patronage of all Visitor Information Centres in the state.
These statistics are in stark contrast to the growth which the Yarra Ranges Tourism visitor websites have been experiencing in recent years.
Visitdandenongranges.com.au and visityarravalley.com.au -which acts as an online visitor centre – has received more than 2.6 million annual page visits and seen a growth of 89 per cent in the past twelve months.
With the capacity to reach more than 2.3 million visitors annually through the Yarra Ranges Tourism social media sites, Mr O’Callaghan believes that there is plenty of opportunity to utilise technology to expand and connect with tourists interested in visiting the Yarra Ranges.
“Visitation to the region has grown by 31 per cent over the past three years, and we have strong marketing and promotion strategies in place to support future growth,” he said.
For those who don’t use online channels for information there will still be the opportunity to access brochures in the form of static display stands which will be placed around a number of locations and include maps and other information.
Mr O’Callaghan said that current volunteers will not be forgotten, and as part of the Yarra Ranges Tourism partnership with the Eastern Volunteer Resource Centre, volunteers would be matched with other volunteering opportunities in the community.
“We are partnering with Eastern Volunteer Resource Centre to help match each of them to new opportunities to stay connected in our community,” he said.
“The support our volunteers have made to the local tourism community has been tremendous and has certainly made our decision to close the Visitor Information Centres very difficult.”
