FEW thoroughfares nationwide have the same household recognition as the Great Ocean Road.
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The sparkling summer vistas across the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean, the winding road through the Otway Ranges and the majestic beauty of the Twelve Apostles.
Given its popularity, the world-famed tourism trail needs significant investment and now a dollar figure has been put on the road’s upkeep.
The federal and state governments have committed $50 million over five years to 2019 to address the neglected maintenance of the Great Ocean Road, but the region’s peak tourism body has estimated the route will need $20 million every year thereafter to maintain its standard.
Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism (GORRT) released a 10-year draft master plan last week which argued that successive state governments allowed the region’s roads and natural attraction to decay from a lack of funding.
The report stated that key assets along the road were either substandard or closed due to a lack of maintenance funding.
“Car parks and access roads servicing a number of key locations are totally inadequate, poorly planned and now compromising visitor and pedestrian safety,” the report claimed.
Improvement work along the Great Ocean Road is a massive talk given the route stretches more than 240 kilometres from Torquay in the east to Allansford in the west.
Specific projects have been identified by GORRT such as improved parking and access at Gibson Steps along with better coach parking at the Twelve Apostles.
The state and federal government deserve recognition for the funding already contributed to the Great Ocean Road. The Twelve Apostles and the road more broadly are great money-spinners for Victoria and Australia on the international stage.
The economic stimulus that these landmarks generate should be reinvested into the infrastructure otherwise visitor numbers will inevitably decline.
Word-of-mouth is arguably the most potent advertising method, so facilities along the Great Ocean Road must be of a high standard.