Great Ocean Road national heritage listing moves closer with federal support

The federal government has committed $42 million to the Great Ocean Road Authority's infrastructure and heritage protection program, supporting the road and coastal resilience works that the combination of increased visitor traffic and climate-related coastal erosion have made increasingly urgent along one of Australia's most iconic tourism assets.

The funding will support road widening at three critical bottleneck sections between Anglesea and Lorne, cliff stabilisation works at locations where erosion has narrowed the carriageway to hazardous widths, visitor infrastructure upgrades at the key lookouts and access points between Torquay and Apollo Bay, and the environmental monitoring program that the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority uses to guide its management decisions along the 243-kilometre coastal reserve.

Tourism Minister Don Farrell said the Great Ocean Road attracted approximately 8 million visitors per year and generated more than $1 billion in economic activity in the communities along the route, making the infrastructure investment "not a cost to the budget but an investment in one of Australia's most productive tourism assets."

The Geelong tourism industry has a direct commercial interest in the Great Ocean Road's condition, as Geelong is the primary gateway city for visitors accessing the road and hosts the accommodation, dining, and retail services that visitors use before and after their Great Ocean Road experience. The Geelong Otway Tourism authority estimates that Great Ocean Road visitor spending contributes approximately $180 million per year to the Geelong economy.

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