Victorian Governments tourism vouchers popular, despite data revealing travellers heading elsewhere

The vouchers sold out within minutes. The incentive allows Victorians to receive $200 cash back if they spend more than $400 on regional accommodation or tours.

The south-west portion of the Great Ocean Road and The Grampians did not rate in the top five destinations of the first found of the scheme with the majority of Victorians choosing to head to the Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast, East Gippsland, the surf coast and the high country areas to cash in their vouchers.

Despite the popularity of other localities, tourism groups have welcomed the second roll out.

Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism general manager Liz Price said where travellers chose to go and use their second round vouchers would give an indication of how the region would fair for the rest of 2021.

"It's too hard to tell if there's been an impact from the first round of the travel vouchers as they were rolled out during peak season," she said.

"The next round presents a real opportunity to attract visitation in traditionally quieter periods. The vouchers may encourage visitors to go further, try new destinations and activities."

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Grampians Tourism chief executive Marc Sleeman said tourism operators in his region continued to be busy.

"The travel vouchers haven't necessarily driven any new tourism to the regions, but we were already at full capacity and we still are," he said.

"I believe the next rounds will be a great mechanism for additional visitation. We know that international tourists typically come in February and March and we won't see that this year. But the vouchers will hopefully fill that gap.

"Our forward bookings are still strong and it's really important we're focused on future dispersal to keep recovery happening."

South West Coast MP Roma Britnell said many tourism operators had mentioned the benefits of the travel vouchers to her.

She said operators had told her they had noticed an increase of visitors.

"The scheme has been effective and the record number of visitors across the south-west coast this summer is clear evidence of that," she said.

"Many small businesses were hit incredibly hard by the pandemic, and speaking with them they all are very positive about the scheme.

"Of course there is still more to do and as we come out of JobKeeper and other federal government support mechanisms it is critical that the Premier doesn't forget regional Victoria and provides further targeted support."

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