Apollo Bay Resort in Apollo Bay, Victoria | Hotel

Apollo Bay Resort

Locality: Apollo Bay, Victoria

Address: 275 Barham River Road Apollo Bay, VIC, Australia

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24.01.2022 Over the coming weeks, we will be working hard with our valued stakeholders, to ensure that the most up-to-date and correct information about our Apollo Bay Resort project is published here. Question: Is the resort compatible with the current Planning Scheme zoning? Answer: The property at 275 Barham River Road, Apollo Bay is a disused dairy farm, consisting of 250 acres zoned Rural Activity, which provides for much needed tourism development for the Great Ocean Road. The lodged Planning Application is fully compliant with the current zoning.

23.01.2022 As we prepare to reveal the Apollo Bay Resorts spectacular architectural features by our multi-award-winning architects and interior designers, Spowers, we thought we might start with what will be inside the Apollo Bay Resort. And this morning, we are also announcing our inaugural Annual Corangamite Art Prize, valued at $100,000.00! We intend to create the complete Australian Experience for our guests, and we will need more than 2,000 pieces of original Australian art and ...we are not talking about mass-produced prints. We will be sourcing unique and original pieces from local and visiting Artists, across all mediums: paintings, limited edition linoprints and woodcut prints, sculpture, ceramics, glass, recycled and found objects, photography, embroidery and mosaic. We will need original creations that speak to our unique part of the world, and pieces for indoors and outdoors. We will be looking for creations that speak to the sea and the landscape. We are also preparing to announce details of our Annual Corangamite Art Prize. With a value of $100,000 equal to that of the Archibald Prize our Annual Corangamite Art Prize will be acquisitional, with the short-listed entrants exhibited in the Apollo Bay Resorts Art Gallery, prior to the winner being announced. We look forward to bringing you more details of this exciting new Australian Art Prize, and the fantastic opportunity for local and visiting Artists to have their creativity displayed to the world on the walls and within the surrounding new landscapes and gardens of the Apollo Bay Resort. Image: Infinity in the garden, courtesy Gallery CAS Gallery of Contemporary Art and Sculpture, Melbourne.

23.01.2022 An important update about the planning process associated with the Apollo Bay Resort project. Our position on the planning process is that we have been, and will continue to be, fully respectful of this important process. The purpose of this page is not to assume the outcome, because the outcome obviously remains unknown. The purpose of this page is to introduce you to the full extent of our plans, which have now been called in by the State Planning Minister, Hon. Richard Wyn...ne, and share accurate information and insight into what we are planning. https://www.colacherald.com.au//minister-make-resort-ruli/

17.01.2022 Welcome to the authorised Facebook page of the proposed Apollo Bay Resort development. This page is for anyone and everyone with an interest in our resort development, and who is seeking access to the facts about our plans. Naturally, communities respond to change in many complex ways. There is often panic, fear, resentment all of which can result in misinformation being shared throughout the community. Here, you will find information, all of which is on the public record, ...that will help you understand more fully and openly, what we plan to do and why. Your comments, questions and feedback are welcome, however we do need to remind you that we reserve the right to moderate comments on our page. We have a zero tolerance moderation policy in place for comments that are racist, defamatory, libellous, sexist, abusive, or that resemble bullying, harassment and trolling generally. Please be respectful and fully informed at all times. Thank you, and welcome to the conversation.

17.01.2022 Good morning, and welcome to Sunday! Thank you for your many messages and questions. One of the most interesting ones we received was asking about how a project like ours will engage with the local community of Apollo Bay. While we are in the planning process, and the operator of the Apollo Bay Resort has not been appointed, here are some of the highlights of our Community Engagement Strategy.... We create and strictly maintain sustainable social and economic development, and respect and support our local host communities. The local ecosystems are not only protected by our vision for the landscape, but will be vastly enhanced and improved for future resilience and sustainability. Fundamentally, we do everything we can to ensure that our project will benefit our host community and the local environment, and we plan substantial contributions to the social and economic welfare and development of the people closest to us. We do this by creating employment opportunities across a vast field of skills and expertise, while also offering extensive training and job-readiness opportunities. We source products and services locally not only because of the obvious short supply chain (local product) economic benefits but also because that is what our host community and our guests expect of us. Our guests expect that mutually-beneficial local engagement is an important feature of our social and corporate responsibility. Our guests expect us to support local economies, and promote and protect local businesses, culture, stories and heritage. They expect us to not only support and promote our local community, but to provide, encourage and mentor opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs to create new, memorable tourism-focused businesses for our guests to support, experience and enjoy. Our resort will be committed to offering our guests healthy, sustainable food and also to eliminate food waste. Every year, more than 30% of world food production is lost or wasted. In the hotel and restaurant industries, an estimated 25% of food purchases are thrown away. If we reduce this waste, we also reduce our resorts expenses. We take this critical need to eliminate waste not only in relation to food, but also water and energy very seriously. We plan to offer a world-class environmentally responsible experience, because that is the very least our guests from all over Australia and the world will expect. We will be reducing the impacts of the products and equipment used throughout our resort, by using products that are made of recyclable materials, and products that are more energy and water efficient. We also aim to set a zero carbon and zero waste target, as well as increasingly controlled water consumption, notably through recycling. This is also relevant to our water consumption, which is another area where with the latest resource innovation and technology, we can ensure that our environmental resilience and sustainability goals are met.

14.01.2022 Good morning. While we await the outcome of our planning application and the appointment of the Apollo Bay Resorts operators, we are pleased to introduce you to some of the features of the five star Apollo Bay Resort, which will be available to the local community, as well as our guests. These features include a seafood restaurant, all-day indoor and outdoor dining, and an Observatory for star-gazing. We are also committed to offering members of the local Apollo Bay communit...y discounted memberships to the Apollo Bay Resorts Wellness Centre, with features including consulting and treatment rooms, a caf, gymnasium, sauna, warm water plunge pool, and the resorts main heated swimming pool. Our local host community will also be able to access our ecological and environmental landscape features, including the Forest and Valley Walks, the Orchard and Vineyard, the Lake, the gardens, the meadows, and the Farm. Any final decisions about these and other new business and leisure opportunities for the local community, will be made by the operators of the Apollo Bay Resort if our planning application is approved.

14.01.2022 So how will our development contribute to employment particularly the employment and training of young people in the region? Over 200 individuals and organisations were consulted, and actively participated in, the building of the Strategic Master Plan (SMP), including tourism operators, local tourism and traders organisations, local councils, visitor information centres, land managers and State and Federal Government departments. The SMP found that the direct economic ...impact of the visitor economy has a larger share of regional employment, as tourism is more labour intensive than most industries. Employment generated by the direct impacts of visitor spending in the Great Ocean Road region in 2014 was estimated to be 6,730 jobs. This contributed approximately 9.7% of total employment in the region in 2014. The Tourism Victoria published estimate of the direct employment impact of the visitor economy in the Great Ocean Road region in 2012/13 was 6,300 jobs or 9.3% of total regional employment. The total employment impact of visitor spending (direct and indirect) is estimated to provide 16.4% or one job in six in the Great Ocean Road region. ABS Census data indicates that young people (1524 years of age) hold more than 35% of all tourism jobs in the region. Tourism provides more than 25% of all youth employment in the region. As the ABS Census is conducted during the low season period, it is expected to underestimate the share of both young people in tourism employment, and the share of total youth employment in the tourism industry. Clearly growth in tourism activity has some potential to address a significant issue of youth unemployment in the region. The industry should be supported to maximise opportunities to generate career paths for the regions young people. Our development will cost $75 million, creating 250 jobs during construction and 175 jobs for its ongoing operations. All jobs with appropriate accredited training courses will be provided for employees from the Apollo Bay and regional communities. The Apollo Bay Resort will be constructed under a Construction Management contract to allow for the smaller trade contractors, local and regional to be engaged. The resort will utilise all existing businesses and services in Apollo Bay resulting in more full-time employment, rather than temporary seasonal work for an itinerant population. Part-time seasonal work also prevents most young couples form staying and building a home. The resort will also ensure that the town is sustainable in the longer term, and can support those young families that wish to call Apollo Bay home.

14.01.2022 Good morning, and welcome to the weekend! We have received so many wonderful messages from visitors to our page, for which we are very grateful. One of the important questions we were asked was what is going to be the impact of our project on the exisiting landscape. The Apollo Bay Resorts landscape principle is one of an abundant, locally-sourced, entirely native Australian landscape. The contrasting undulating pastoral Meadow experience, combined with the spectacle of our ...replanted Forest and Valley Walks, and the exquisite colour and texture of our native flora, will create the ideal, ecologically and environmentally sensitive, secure and expertly monitored and maintained habitat for flora, fauna and birdlife. The Resorts Landscape will be defined upon arrival with the planting of new avenues of native trees. The Valleys and Forest Walks will be enhanced by extensive native tree revegetation for improved habitat, and significant environmental and ecological improvements. A sensitively designed Forest Boardwalk, made from local timber, will protect the critical, ground-based ecology (soil and ground-plantings). Our Gardens will feature a stunning showcase of native flowering plants, which will create the ideal bee-friendly habitat for bees and birdlife. While also complementing the Resorts cellar-door experience, the existing Vineyard will be enhanced by Orchard planting, providing the landscape with seasonal bursts of colourful (and edible) fruit, and flowers. The working Farm setting will showcase the pastoral history of the region, and provide our guests, and particularly the children, with a memorable rural experience. Planted with an abundance of reeds, native grasses and rushes, The Lake, will provide habitat for fish and eels, while the water will be moved around the site for irrigation purposes as a key feature of the Resorts Water Management Plan. The features of our overarching Landscape Principle include: equal balance of cut and fill to keep all soil on site; use any excavated soil to help enhance the landscape experience; use boardwalks and other non-invasive path construction processes where possible to minimise disturbance; and employ soft agricultural methods of moving water around the site, such as swales, keylines, and ephemeral drainage soaks.

12.01.2022 Thank you, also, for your many questions about the possibility of leasing the small retail component of our proposed Resort. We are unable to provide any details about these, or any new business, opportunities until the result of our proposal has been determined by the State Government.

12.01.2022 Anyone interested in our development is welcome to read the comprehensive and independently authored Strategic Master Plan for The Great Ocean Road Region Visitor Economy 20152025. We have extracted some relevant points below, and included the link to the complete document at the end. There are a number of challenges and opportunities that are affecting the capacity of the Great Ocean Road region to achieve the full potential of its visitor economy. These include furthe...r product development and investment is required to match visitor demand. To increase visitor yield, it is critical to improve many of the regions existing products, services and facilities, develop new ones and improve infrastructure to meet visitors expectations and preferences. There is also a lack of high quality accommodation to meet demand. In order to realise the growth potential of the Great Ocean Road regions visitor economy, the Strategic Master Plan (SMP) aims to achieve the following objectives to increase public and private investment in development and maintenance of infrastructure, product (accommodation and experiences) and visitor services. The SMP identifies three key strategies to sustainably grow the regions visitor economy [including] to maintain and develop the visitor infrastructure, product and experiences of the region, its destinations, attractions and facilities to meet/exceed sustainable standards consistent with competitive demand expectations. The [SMPs] 80 actions have been grouped into seven key themes to facilitate the development of the action plan [including] investment attraction and facilitation, both public and private, to address current product gaps (i.e. large scale accommodation and new product and experiences) to meet the changing consumer needs. Clearly growth in tourism activity has some potential to address a significant issue of youth unemployment in the region. The industry should be supported to maximise opportunities to generate career paths for the regions young people. A key challenge for the Great Ocean Road region is to reduce the strong seasonality in domestic overnight tourism, which reduces investor returns, increases skill and staff shortages, and reduces the incentive to train long-term employees. In addition the Great Ocean Road region has a number of other significant supply and demand challenges and opportunities which will influence its future tourism growth. These include product development (accommodation, attractions and services), both existing and new, is required to meet market demand, (e.g. there are significant gaps in high quality accommodation compared with other destinations). https://www.greatoceanroadtourism.org.au//Masterplan-15102

03.01.2022 Good morning, and welcome to the weekend. We hope everyone managed to stay cool during the past few days of extreme heat, and that the cooler weather predicted for the weekend brings everyone some relief and comfort. We have noted the discussions about the Apollo Bay Resorts environmental and ecological aims, and in our post about our landscaping plans, we briefly touched on the issue of water management. It seems appropriate that we provide you with some more information ab...out our plans to manage water with the team of expert engineers and designers that a project like ours demands. As a key component of our planning application, our consultants prepared an extensive report providing the engineering basis for the Colac Otway Shire and Corangamite Catchment Management Authority to consider with regards to our stormwater drainage and waterway management strategies. Specifically, our report defines the required design criteria for the onsite drainage in accordance with the requirements of national standard AS3500, stormwater retention and discharge strategies, and design objectives and Water Sensitive Urban Design features. As part of our overall drainage strategy, we aim to utilise the latest ecological and environmentally responsible features that can reduce pollutants, storm flows and irrigation requirements throughout the Apollo Bay Resort. Our project will incorporate rainwater harvesting tanks that can be used for stormwater harvesting and recycling throughout the resort. These large, underground tanks, will ensure the capture, storage and recycling of the rainfall in our region. Safe and ecologically secure erosion management is very important, and the safe conveyance of stormwater runoff throughout the resort is a key priority of our engineering objectives. Grassed swales will be utilised at various key locations throughout the resorts grounds to slowly convey water to its ultimate destination. As a feature of our flood management strategy, swales can also be incorporated around the resorts perimeters and adjacent to roads and paths to more effectively manage the distribution of water in the event of extreme weather events and flooding. Detention basins will also be integrated into the landscape design, and these features will reduce water flow rates to suitably low and manageable levels. Our existing lake also currently collects stormwater runoff, and with expert maintenance and water quality treatment, we will be able to achieve yet more environmental and ecological benefits for our project.

03.01.2022 The Great Ocean Road region is a significant national and international tourist destination. It attracts more than five million visitors annually, significantly more than the popular tourist destinations of the Great Barrier Reef, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Blue Mountains, and the competing Victorian coastal regions of Gippsland and Phillip Island. (Source: Tourism Research Australia.) The primary objective of our project, and the Strategic Master Pl...Continue reading