By Callum Ludwig
Upper Yarra residents seeking a holiday close to home might be interested by the new facilities coming to the Big4 Yarra Valley Park Lane Holiday Park in Healesville.
$100,000 from the Enabling Tourism Fund has been provided by the Victorian Government, to add to the park’s own contributions, towards the feasibility of a new aquatic centre, outdoor play areas, mountain bike and walking trails, three-bedroom laketop cabins and more other accommodation.
General Manager for the Park Lane Group Joshua Hellings said there is so much demand for tourism in the Yarra Ranges region.
“We’re looking to make sure that we can cater to as many people as possible, and these fantastic new facilities will make sure they have a fantastic time while they are here,” he said.
“We’re working with an award-winning sustainability builder in Breathe Architecture to ensure whatever we do is going to complement the environment and complement the aesthetics of the property, while making sure that they are as functional and as good as possible.”
Local Wurundjeri elders are also set to be consulted for opportunities to develop options to share learnings of the culture, language and history of Country they are visiting.
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Martin Pakula said it’s important to be bringing back tourism to our regions after the last couple of years.
“The Enabling Tourism Fund is a specific fund to help tourism operators look at plans and business cases and make sure the ideas that they’ve got are workable and can be converted into a better outcome for the visitor economy,” he said.
“Anything that we can provide to assist that process means that the Big4 can have a really good look at what extra offerings they can make and make this well-used facility even more popular.”
The potential projects are expected to create 11 full-time jobs and boost overnight stays by about 9000 nights per year.
Mr Hellings said the project will help the park to utilise more of their 66 acres of property.
“We’ve got about six MCG sites of land and currently we’re only covering about a third of the block. This will help us get into a bit more of what we’ve got access to,” he said.
“Beyond this, we’ve got some further plans in the long run down the track, we’re really excited to take a loose concept plan and create a firm plan that we can really build.”
