October 8, 2021
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Here’s cheers to local beer The amber ale will be flowing at the Great Australian Beer Festival in Geelong in January. After not going ahead this year due to the pandemic, the festival will be back to showcase some of the region’s best beers. Director Kieran Blood and the GABF team are working on making sure the festival returns with a bang. “We are working hard behind the scenes to ensure GABF 2022 is the best and brightest yet. With a new partnership with the BeerFest Australia brand, we have a team that have already delivered six successful COVID-safe events. We can’t wait to see you all sipping, sampling and socialising again.” The festival will celebrate the Geelong region’s burgeoning beer industry with a smorgasbord of local artisan brews along with wines, seltzers, gins and cocktails. Blackman’s Brewery will be one of the local breweries involved with the event, which will run across two days. Renn Blackman said they were pretty excited to be back at the festival. “It’s a local festival and it’s good to interact with people and share our beers. It’ll be pretty cool to be among a big crowd of people. “It’s been a pretty tough year.” Tara Murray
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A roadblock for tourism By Tara Murray The postponement of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race is another blow for the tourism industry, according to tourism chief Brett Ince. Race organiser Visit Victoria announced the popular event would not go ahead in January after it was advised that the WorldTour Teams will not be able to travel to Australia for January’s elite cycling calendar due to national quarantine challenges.
The 2021 event was cancelled because of the pandemic. The race, which was started in 2015, has attracted some of the world’s best cyclists, while also bringing a number of tourists to the area. Tourism Geelong and Bellarine executive director Brett Ince said postponing the event was another blow for the tourist industry which has been hit hard the past two years. “The event is a big one for the area, as it’s an international event,” he said. “It will have a significant impact on the area
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[it not going ahead] and it’s disappointing that it can’t go ahead. “I know the event organiser exhausted all avenues and we’re hoping there will be further opportunities for the event in late 2022.” Mr Ince said there had been significant challenges for the region, with several large events either cancelled or postponed as a result of the pandemic. He said many events that were scheduled for early next year were also still to be confirmed. “A lot of domestic events are likely to be on
a smaller scale and reimagined,” Mr Ince said. “The impact hasn’t just been events like the Cadel event. “Business events, large scale events and weddings, they all have a significant impact.” Visit Victoria chief executive Brendan McClements said the race’s postponement was a disappointing result for organisers and the communities along the Surf Coast. “Visit Victoria is currently exploring opportunities to hold an international cycling event later in 2022,” Mr McClements said.
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