The famous Princess Margaret Rose Cave is to remain closed until next year … with businesses in the nearby town of Nelson feeling the pain of fewer tourists.
The ABC reports that the cave, which is in Victoria’s Lower Glenelg National Park closed to tourists in early 2021 after the private owners retired, amid Covid restrictions that limited cross-border travel.
Parks Victoria had said the attraction would re-open in the middle of this year after $650,000 in works to renovate the site, including repairs to the visitor centre and safety improvements in the cave had been completed.
However, Expressions of Interest for a tour operator for the limestone cave are only now going out.
The popular cave will now remain closed until next year. PIC: Tim Mossholder / Pexels
“While the expression of interest process will be running, we’ll be completing a cultural heritage management plan for further construction work,” a Parks Victoria spokesman told the ABC. “We expect the caves will be able to reopen with the works done and an operator in place next year.”
Jo Laubsch, president of the Nelson Tourist Association, told the ABC that tourism providers said people used to stay longer when the cave was open.
“They used to get people to stay another day, or people would come here for the caves, then find the place and might stay another day to explore the area a little bit more,” she said.
She told the ABC it would be great for businesses in the town if the cave reopened.
“Businesses have suffered since it closed,” she said. “For example, Nelson River Cruises, they used to operate tours up to the caves, whereas now they’ve had to shorten their tours and obviously they’re not getting as many people through because they haven’t got that attraction at the end of it,” she said.
The ABC reports that the cave was found by local property owners in the 1930s. They requested permission from Buckingham Palace to name the site after Princess Margaret.
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Really enjoyed the caves, I hope that they get the issues sorted.
We visited the cave in 2012 and really enjoyed it. Stayed a couple of nights in Nelson.
Nelson & surrounding area has a population of less than 200. Apart from the general store there aren’t any business’s in the village to suffer from a drop in tourist numbers.
The caves are not bad but not as good as Buchan caves.