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Washed out

Surveying the aftermath at the Fish Creek Bowling Club last Wednesday were Bill Ferbrache, Bowling Club secretary Tim McLean, Robert Staley and junior vice-president Duilio Stefani.

THE CLOSURE of Wilsons Promontory National Park after flash flooding last week could have a similar impact on South Gippsland’s tourism industry as the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.

Heavy rainfall washed away a large portion of the Darby River bridge, the only road leading into the Prom, as well as doing substantial damage to other areas of the park.

South Gippsland Shire Council and Parks Victoria have organised an industry forum to be held at the Foster War Memorial Arts Centre today (Tuesday) to inform tourism operators and the public about the extent of the damage to the park.

Council’s tourism co-ordinator Christian Stefani said similar measures to those of the bushfire response would be put into place.

“Crisis management response and recovery plans that were successfully implemented during previous bushfire events will be re-activated with a Tourism Response and Recovery Group being formed,” he said.

“It will comprise representatives from council, Prom Country Regional Tourism, Parks Victoria, Tourism Victoria and Destination Gippsland.”

With the Easter and Anzac Day long weekend less than a month away, there is concern the key tourist destination will not be open in time for the usual influx of visitors.

Mr Stefani said he had not heard whether the park would be closed for the holidays, but encourages tourists not to cancel their plans.

“We will hear more details after the meeting, but any visitation to the area this Easter will be a priority for both council and the tourism industry,” he said.

At a media conference in Melbourne early yesterday afternoon, Parks Victoria chief executive, Dr Bill Jackson said VicRoads had completed initial assessments of road and bridge damage.

“They advise that even limited access will be at least a couple of weeks away,” he said.

Nevertheless, he hopes limited camping will be available over Easter.

But, that will depend on “our ability to get the main road reopened and other essential services in Tidal River up and running again”.

And the northern section of the Prom may be reopened “in the next week or so”.

“No roofed accommodation will be available, but we will work to get some camping in the park for Easter,” Dr Jackson said.

Roads and infrastructure at Tidal River were extensively damaged and the park remains closed. Dozens of cars, campervans and buses remain stranded at Wilsons Prom.

“In the meantime, we ask visitors to be patient and respect the fact the closures are for their own safety,” Dr Jackson said.

Owner of Black Cockatoo Cottages in Yanakie, Alan Rittman, has already had a number of cancellations up until Easter.

“It’s exactly the same as when we had the bushfires on Black Saturday. There’s no traffic, no chance of getting any bookings and no casual visitors,” he said.

“It’s devastating for a little business like ours. We’re right on the edge of the Prom and all the businesses operating here really feed off the Prom being open.”

Mr Rittman said his accommodation was fully booked for the long weekend, but this would change under the current circumstances.

“If the park is closed over Easter, we’ll lose those bookings too I can imagine,” he said.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed.”

Owner of Prom Gate Vista Cabins, Joan Morris, also said the park closure would hurt small businesses, especially during the holiday period.

“It will have an impact, we’ll be down in numbers for sure,” she said.

“People have already been calling and asking whether the park’s open, when it will be open and what’s happening.

“We’re telling them until we have our tourism body meeting on Tuesday, we won’t know.

 “We’re telling them to still come down, there’s plenty to do outside the Prom.”

In the meantime, Mr Stefani said he will pro-actively be promoting the rest of South Gippsland as there is more to offer than just the Prom.

“We need to remain positive and keep promoting all the wonderful attractions we have to offer,” he said.

“We want to let people know that the rest of South Gippsland is open for business.”

Four council vehicles, including a grader and front end loader remain at the Prom, where crew were helping clear landslips.

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Posted by admin on Mar 30 2011. 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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