No sale - state denies snowfields up for grabs

Two state-run, financially-challenged snow resorts are not for sale, a state government says as it prepares to tender their operating rights. Alpine Resorts Victoria, which has overseen Lake Mountain and Mount Baw Baw since 2022, has called for expressions of interest from commercial operators after failing to turn profits at the snowfields. Victorian premier Jacinta Allan flatly denied reports it amounted to a sale. "The reporting that these beautiful locations are being sold is just wrong," she told reporters on Thursday. State agencies with landowner responsibility often partnered with commercial organisations to deliver services, she said. The move was about asking market leaders what they wanted to see and contribute to the resorts, tourism minister Steve Dimopoulos said. "It might be part of the resort," he said. "It might be a business within the resort. It might be a partnership with the state government." According to Alpine Victoria, the EOI process will run until the end of January for qualified operators to propose management solutions for one or both resorts, "in their entirety". Lake Mountain, about 120 kilometres from central Melbourne, includes 37 kilometres of cross country trails, tubing and tobogganing. Mount Baw Baw, with its shorter tree-lined runs and snowplay areas, is known as the "nursery" of Victoria's alpine industry, where about half the state's snow lovers got their first taste for the white stuff. Both locations also host summer events, but with less annual snowfall in winter than the major resorts, they fill an important role supplying the snow-play, beginner and day-tripper markets. "One of the critical things that must be remembered is that Mount Baw Baw isn't always about downhill skiing or getting vertical," said Leona Turra, a Baw Baw Stakeholders Association member. "It's also about families being able to throw some snowballs, being able to get on a toboggan - a resort where it's not so prohibitively costly that family groups can't go." Lake Mountain had almost 100,000 visitors in winter 2023, while more than 63,000 visited Baw Baw over more than 94,000 "visitor days", Alpine Resorts' annual report shows. Only Baw Baw offers accommodation, but both resorts lack basic mains power. "The lack of investment by successive governments has meant that Mount Baw Baw has never been able to achieve its potential," Ms Turra said. Snow-making, a critical part of resorts worldwide, has also been lacking despite improving affordability, she told AAP. Any clouds of uncertainty hanging over Mount Baw Baw's future could be devastating for the resort's licensees, their more than $25 million in assets and the roughly $30 million the resort contributes to Gippsland's economy each year. Gippsland, a coal and logging powerhouse for decades, has been hit hard by the rapid transition to renewable energy and a ban on the state's native timber industry, which took effect in January. "For a region to take the hits that we have in terms of our mining industry, our logging industry - now they're talking about a major tourist attraction," Ms Turra said.