Our Great Southern Rail Trail could be Australia’s longest

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Our Great Southern Rail Trail could be Australia’s longest

Matt Dunn

 

THE extension of the Great Southern Rail Trail is expected to create a tourist boom – and it all begins now.

Tenders closed Tuesday (October 29) for the removal of tracks, ballasts and sleepers along the disused rail line between Leongatha and Korumburra, ahead of the extension of the trail to Korumburra.

While South Gippsland Shire Council is expecting a sizeable lift to the local economy with an ever larger influx of visitors, they say the grand plan of an eventual 168km long trail would have the region buzzing with activity.

The completed path would open up our region to Melbourne’s east, with a trail running all the way from Clyde to Yarram.

The rail trail plan is backed by a number of neighbouring councils and Destination Gippsland, who see the region as Victoria’s undiscovered gem.

The tourism body’s projections have visitor numbers at 8.5 million annual visitors to Gippsland by 2030, up from the current base of 7.06 million.

If this growth potential is realised, total visitor spending could increase from $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

While they won’t all be trekking down the rail trail, excited tourist operators, shopkeepers and food and beverage businesses can only see the benefits.  

See the full story on page 5 of The star, October 29. 

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Posted by on Oct 29 2019. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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