CHANGE IN VISITS OVER TIME (2014 – 2023) 1 VISITATION TO THE GOR REGION Prior to COVID-19, visitation to the GOR region was growing, increasing from 4.0M visits in 2014 to 7.0M visits in 2019, a total growth of 66%. Although visitation has begun to rebound post-COVID-19, increasing from a low of 3.8M visits in 2020, visitation is still below 2019 levels (down 22%). This is particularly important to note given that: • Some regions in Victoria (based on domestic data only) have already surpassed 2019 visitation levels. For example, visitation to Phillip Island in 2023 was 6.0% higher than 2019 levels, and, in the High-Country visitation was up 2.1% from 2019. • While some other regions (based on domestic data only) have also struggled to reach 2019 visitation levels, after Daylesford and Macedon Ranges (which saw a -22.3% decline between 2019 and 203), the GOR had the second largest decline in visitation between 2019 and 2023, at - 21.6%. For the GOR region, the challenge of visitation and yield is also compounded as the vast majority of visitation is from intrastate markets with very limited interstate and international visitation especially since COVID-19, resulting in a far lower level of visitor yield especially. 1 Source: Tourism Research Australia National Visitor Survey, Dec YE 2014-2023 (Data is based on 3-year averages for all years but 2019 - 2023) 4.19M 2014 Visitor type Domestic Day Domestic overnight international total gor region 0 2,000,000 visits 4,000,000 6,000,000 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 4.43M 4.84M 5.13M 5.40M 3.83M 4.38M 5.55M 5.45M Change 2019-23 7.03M -22% COVID-19: Period of Major Lockdowns & Border Closures start of recovery period