JULY ISSUE, 2024
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FIRST RUNS, MORE TO COME
LESSONS LEARNT P7,8 Meet Falls Creek ski instructor Jimmy Kuo, and also learn about lessons at Mt Hotham.
WHAT’S ON P10 Plenty of activities to enjoy at Mt Hotham and Falls Creek throughout July.
MT HOTHAM visitor services officer Gemma Galletly was among the lucky first to get in some early runs when Hotham officially kicked off its season on the slopes on June 15. With 20cms of fresh falls in the days after the King’s Birthday weekend, and the diligent work of the resort’s snowmaking and grooming teams, the Summit Trainer kicked into gear, with no shortage of skiers and boarders keen to go for a slide. The Big D opened the following day to provide further terrain, with June 20 seeing the Summit chairlift and Road Runner chairlift running, opening up Sun Run and The Basin. Falls Creek, with similar natural snowfalls, was also able to open Halley’s Comet on June 15, with beginners also enjoying the slopes at Mouse Trap Carpet. For the latest information on the mountains visit fallscreek. com.au and hotham.com.au. PHOTO: Mt Hotham ARV
Mountains of money ██
Resorts contribute $2.14b annually to state’s economic activity
By JEFF ZEUSCHNER and TILLY GWINNER
POW DAYS P18 Pros and cons of where to get those magic first runs on a powder day at Mt Hotham.
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OVERSEAS SKIING P4, 20 REAL ESTATE
P9, 13-17
NEW research into the economic contribution and benefits of Victoria’s alpine resorts has found the sector contributes a whopping $2.14 billion to Victoria’s overall annual economic activity. Commissioned by Alpine Resorts Victoria (ARV), the research also found the six alpine resorts of Falls Creek, Mt Hotham, Mt Buller, Mt Stirling, Mt Baw Baw and Lake Mountain contribute to a diverse range of economic benefits for regional areas including more than
12,000 regional jobs, and they also create social and environmental benefits for all Victorians. The findings, released by Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Steve Dimopoulos, also showed the sector annually creates 1955 full-time-equivalent jobs at Falls Creek and 1321 at Mt Hotham, while on-mountain spending generates $329 million in economic output at Falls Creek, and $247 million at Mt Hotham. The report ‘Economic Contribution & Benefits of Victoria’s Alpine Resorts’ found that Mt Hotham, Falls Creek and Mt Buller make up 78 per cent of the state’s alpine tourism.
ARV CEO Amber Gardner, said the new research, coinciding with a century of skiing being celebrated at Mt Buller, reinforced the critical role alpine resorts play in regional visitor economies with economic contributions from offmountain spending pumping $165m into the Alpine Shire economy and generating 1131 EFT jobs annually. “Each year nearly 1.4 million visitors enjoy the alpine environment’s broad offering of nature-based tourism experiences, sustaining thousands of on-mountain businesses and making a significant contribution to the economies of surrounding towns in regional Victoria,” Ms Gardner said.
“In the High Country alone, the resorts account for a third of total visitation to the region, so act as the economic backbone of regional communities. “The resorts are significant employers, and in addition to the economic benefits they generate, also provide important environmental, health and social benefits to the community. “The findings also show visitors to our resorts are healthier and more productive members of society, and ecosystems benefit from environmental programs delivered by Alpine Resorts Victoria.
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