Travel jitters push up the price of a Victorian holiday

“Prices are on the rise everywhere,” she said.

Ms Mariani said although the Queensland government overturned an initial requirement last week that all passengers aboard two flights needed to isolate after potentially being exposed to the Omicron variant, many Victorians would now think twice about interstate holidays.

“It reinforces to people that they [governments] can change the rules at any time.”

Destination Phillip Island Regional Tourism Board general manager Kim Storey said accommodation was virtually booked out from Christmas until the third week of January.

Ms Storey said she was hearing reports that even luxury accommodation was booked out. “There’s an appetite to pay those prices,” she said.

Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism general manager Liz Price said there was less holiday accommodation available because some part-time residents had moved to the region permanently during the pandemic.

But she said bookings were still skewed towards school holidays and weekends due to the absence of international visitors who would normally fill those summer gaps.

“We’ve also got no business travellers,” she said.

Elizabeth Foster can’t remember the last time she had a holiday in her home state.

But after recently postponing a Christmas trip to Europe due to concerns about border closures and catching COVID-19, Ms Foster and her husband Michael decided to invest in a luxurious five-night stay in regional Victoria.

In mid-January the keen travellers will spend $2310 on accommodation and dining at the acclaimed Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld in the Grampians.

“We have chosen the best accommodation they have up there – the deluxe room – and we have booked the degustation menu,” the Box Hill resident said.

“We haven’t spent anything on travel for a few years, so let’s do it well.”

Ms Foster hopes her upcoming holiday injects money into regional businesses that have struggled during the pandemic. They plan on visiting local wineries, shops and taking lots of day walks.

Jaime Broersen, the operations manager at BookABreak holiday rentals, said Victorians were spending more per night than ever before on local holidays. They were also booking out homes for longer periods, with the average stay increasing from one to two weeks over the past two years.

One popular Blairgowrie holiday house rented out by the company fetched $900 a night two years ago and is now charging around $1400 a night.

“There is a lot more spend available because guests aren’t spending on international travel or airfares,” she explained.

“Some are paying in excess of $2000 per night.”

Ms Broersen, who rents out homes across the Mornington Peninsula, said while all her properties were booked out over Christmas and January, she’s still getting dozens of calls a day from people desperate to secure accommodation.

“It’s a very strong market,” she said. “There is a lot of confidence in being able to jump in the car and drive to a beautiful place.”

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There are lengthy waitlists for most properties, and there’s been intense interest in a recently listed $25,000-a-week Sorrento property that Ms Broersen says is “like walking through an art…