OUYEN accommodation businesses have seen a lift in bookings as Victorians have embraced holidaying at home.
Despite the hotter months of January and February usually being quiet as travellers favour the cooler weather down south, Ouyen’s Hilltop Motel was booked out this week.
Manager Craig Jacobs credited the Wimmera-Mallee Silo Art Trail with much of the summer business.
“The last one is at Patchewollock, so they do the whole trip around and then come here and stay the night,” Mr Jacobs said.
“Most accommodation businesses in Ouyen rely on people stopping over on a long trip. It’s a good stopping point.
“Other than COVID, we normally run at about 90 per cent occupancy, with a lot of passing through traffic.
“Where we’re situated, it’s about an hour or so either way for any other accommodation in the area.
“There’s three motels and the pub that do accommodation in town, and then there’s a couple of B&Bs in town. Most of them are fairly full a lot of the time.”
But business wasn’t so good at the motel last year.
“We’re poking along all right now, but COVID hit us a bit hard – for a couple of months there we were worried about what the next plan was,” he said.
“We had essential workers in the area … so that propped us up for a little bit.”
According to Mr Jacobs, while a lot of visitors to Ouyen are just passing through, the uncertainty around state border closures has meant more tourists are checking out their own backyard.
“We’ve had a few Mildura people come down just because they can, and a lot of people coming up from Ballarat and Bendigo to do the silo trail,” he said.
“A lot of people now are just travelling within their own state at the moment. It’s not that they can’t travel interstate, it’s that they’re scared, because they’re locking states down and only giving 24 hours’ notice.”
Mr Jacobs said the recent NSW border closure was a good example.
“On New Year’s Eve we went from having nobody booked in that night to being full within about an hour or so. As soon as they made the call, everyone hit panic and got out of NSW and got as far as here.”
But with the warm summer weather set to stick around a while longer, Mr Jacobs said it was as good a time as any to holiday at home and check out Ouyen’s biggest drawcard – the Ouyen Lake.
“We always point people in that direction,” he said.
“We’ve got a pool here but the lake’s something special.
“I myself try to get up to the lake and take the fishing boat up there once a week or so.”
