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After last weekend's wildfires that swept through Victoria, and this week's continuing bushfires around the state, Tourism Australia is making a plea for tourists to continue visiting the safe parts of Victoria. Tourism Australia notes that Victoria's major and most popular tourist attractions, including the city of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island remain safe.
An exception is the Yarra Valley in the northern part of Victoria and the High Country regions. Marysville and Kinglake. These were hit by the fires and are not open to tourism. The Melbourne airport is fully open as are many of Victoria's roads. Roadblocks will be in place to prevent unnecessary traffic from using emergency services' access roads or driving through affected areas.
Tourism Australia has posted the following on their website, www.australia.com:
A number of towns across the state of Victoria in Australia’s south east have been deeply impacted by fires, including the loss of life and destruction of property. The regions of Victoria that are affected include the Yarra Valley, Gippsland and Victoria’s High Country.
Much of Victoria has not, however, been damaged by fire. The areas not damaged include the city of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, Goldfields, Grampians, Phillip Island, the Mornington Peninsula, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula and the Murray River region.
International visitors planning to travel to Victoria’s regions in the next few weeks are advised to make informed decisions about their travel plans and to check this website for the latest updates www.visitmelbourne.com.
If you are due to arrive in Victoria in the next few months you should check that your plans are not impacted by contacting your travel agent or tour operator.
Visitors already in Melbourne should visit the Visitor Centre at 2 Swanston Street, Melbourne for updated information.