General News
20 August, 2025
Grampians tourism recovery on track in every direction
MORE than half a year after the devastating fires that affected about 80 per cent of the Grampians National Park, the local tourism industry has been gradually welcoming the return of visitors to the iconic natural attraction.
Some recent changes to the Grampians Peak Trail booking system will hopefully speed up the return of normal visitor numbers to the region, along with marketing campaigns for locals and business advocacy strategies as part of the area's business and community recovery.
Capping all this off is a major change to the 13-day/12-night GPT experience.
Previously, one could only travel in a southerly direction, but now the alternative exists to take in the sights heading north from Dunkeld and Mt Spurgeon.
Grampians Wimmera Mallee Tourism chief executive, Marc Sleeman, said although "the trail was always designed to go north-south in terms of looking at the vista", it would expand the possibilities for visitors to tailor a trail experience to suit them.
"It was only ever provided as a one-way option," he said.
"But after consideration and further discussion with the people that were using the trails, Parks (Victoria) decided that they would open it up to travelling in both directions."
Mr Sleeman explained feedback from licensed tour operators was a key factor, as not all visitors could manage the entire experience all at once, for a variety of reasons.
"The success of the trail has been that the majority of the trips that do come in and have a guided experience do the two-night, three-day experiences," he said.
"It brings people back for different looks of the trail and each section – whether it's in the south in Dunkeld or up at Mount Zero – they're very different vistas and experiences.
"So the customers that we're having come and experience the Grampians Peaks Trail are coming for small bites ... and coming back multiple times and I know that Adrian at Grampians Peaks Walking Company has had groups of people that have come and done one section, and then six months (or) 12 months later, come back and done another section."
Mr Sleeman said he still thought the original concept was his "preferred route" for the full 164-kilometre walk, with a rewarding finish waiting in the south.
"Having a lovely spa at the Royal Mail is my sort of finish to the trail," he laughed.
He said the updated online reservation system allowed for the potential logistical challenges of people going in both directions.
"You can see clearly what's available up and down the length of the trail, so there's no issue around double booking or anything like that," Mr Sleeman said.
"It is designed in a way where you can come on and off the trail at different locations … which opens up flexibility to all types of walkers, whether you're a hardcore trekker, a trail runner or a novice – there is something for everybody on the Peaks Trail and that's the beauty of the of the asset."
Sections of the GPT have been gradually reopened by Parks Victoria following the fires last summer, with only one stage near Mt William remaining closed, being affected by land slips; it was expected to reopen soon.
"They just provided a recent update, and they put a significant amount of money into upgrading some of the roads that have been washed out," Mr Sleeman said.
He said he's trekked along much of the trail personally to experience the spectacular views, and even was happy to report mobile reception "along the rooftop of the national park" was generally reliable.
"I've sat up at the Bugiga campsite and had a Teams meeting," Mr Sleeman said.
"Down in the south, I've had a board meeting with Parks Victoria and our Grampians Wimmera Mallee Tourism Board, and we've had connectivity to have members attend by Zoom."
But Mr Sleeman was keener to sell the traditional nature experience following the fires – he said all things considered, recent numbers for tourism have been "very solid for recovery".
"The traditional periods of your Easters and your school holidays have been strong," he said.
"Visitor spend is up on last year – numbers are down slightly on previous years, and we're talking (about) 10 per cent drop in visitation numbers, but the people that are coming are spending more time here and spending more money.
"A lot of the areas that were directly impacted were remote areas that were only accessed by four-wheel drivers and extreme hikers. So 95 per cent of the traditional visitors coming to the region won't even see the scars of the recent bushfires when they visit MacKenzie Falls, Boroka Downs, Mount Abrupt, and Mount Sturgeon in the south.
Business viability was also on his radar, with the critical issue of accessing economically realistic insurance, "an ongoing concern for all of Victorian businesses, not just our region, (but) any destination that's in a pristine natural setting", citing North East Victoria, Gippsland and the Great Ocean Road as other areas with similar apprehensions.
"All have got some beautiful bush and nature draw cards," Mr Sleeman said.
"So insurance is going to be an ongoing issue, and it's something that the State and Federal Governments need to address if we continue to grow tourism in our state."
On another level, he said GWMT continued to encourage local businesses through information and tactical training to meet the increasing tourism demand they were hoping to achieve.
"Communication and education are critical in our part of the world," Mr Sleeman said.
"We know that you can't look at demand in isolation, and you need to consider the supply side and providing the tools for our industry partners to be able to increase capacity.
"Understanding opportunities, we deliver a whole range of tactical development projects for our businesses to improve their ability to make more money and continually grow their capacity to manage more visitors to the region.
"We know that it's very important to get repeat visitors back to our destination, and we can only do that if we educate our industry.
"If we're driving demand without considering the capacity of businesses and the ability for them to deliver a great experience, it's not going to work. So we do work in parallel with supply and demand."
GWMT has also recently highlighted the personal local aspect; Mr Sleeman said part of the recovery effort has been to encourage personal visitors to locals in the region to integrate a trip to the Grampians into their itinerary; it can be as simple as a local offering to be an informal tour guide for a day.
"We've had some great response to our current campaign called YOU, and that's a visiting friends and relatives campaign leveraging a bit of local pride in our destination," he said.
"It's important to understand that 25 per cent of all of our visitors that come to the Grampians region come to this destination visiting friends and relatives. So we've been educating the community about the role they can play in recovery.
"We know visitors come here for the hikes and the walks and the waterways and the lakes, but the reality is that the most important attraction in our region is you, the community member."
On another personal level, Mr Sleeman said the Grampians fires over the last two summers have underlined the fragility and value of life, and the limits of human resilience, with many Pomonal properties lost in February 2024; his own home came close to being a statistic too, but was saved three times by the CFA.
"The fire came to our back door," he said.
"We lost sheds and boats ... we've certainly learned a lot about fire over the last two years."
He said the ripples of restoration and rebuilding were still a factor in the lives of everybody in the area.
"It has brought the community closer together," Mr Sleeman said.
"I think we understand the need for that community togetherness; the things we probably don't consider is just the ongoing clean up.
"I have 50 acres here, and I'm still cleaning up 18 months after the bushfires, so it plays a toll on your mental health.
"It's important that we continue to check in on friends that have been through similar sort of experiences and good communication across your community is important."
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