{"id":4247,"date":"2026-05-04T03:49:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/4247\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T03:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:49:35","slug":"gerringongs-tasman-drive-causes-coastal-tourism-boom-after-social-media-influx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/4247\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerringong’s Tasman Drive causes coastal tourism boom after social media influx"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gerringong resident Kevin Dale said hardly anyone knew about his picturesque street on the New South Wales South Coast 12 months ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But since social media influencers discovered it, Tasman Drive has become a weekend gridlock with people jockeying for space for photos and videos.<\/p>\n

“I’m not against it, but it can be painful at times,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People don’t consider your boundaries and go onto people’s properties. There are people abusing each other, and it’s a bit of a pain for parking, but that’s about it.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/p>\n

Kevin Dale says he avoids driving from home on weekends because of the crowds. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

“It’s nice to share it with everybody, and a lot of the people are coming from overseas, so they’re leaving with a pretty good view.”<\/p>\n

He has lived on the road, widely dubbed as “Australia’s most beautiful street” on Instagram, for 12 years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tasman Drive has become an Instagram sensation with people posting photos and videos from the picturesque street. (Supplied: Instagram)<\/p>\n

Nowadays, he and his family do their shopping and errands in the morning to avoid the afternoon traffic outside his house.<\/p>\n

“After lunch, you won’t be able to move here,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There are busloads of tourists coming down, and it’s just incredible.”\"A<\/p>\n

Tasman Drive appears quiet on a weekday morning but becomes packed with people on weekends. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

Boon for business<\/p>\n

Melissa Matters is the deputy mayor of Kiama Council and a Gerringong restaurant and cafe owner.<\/p>\n

\"Melissa<\/p>\n

Melissa Matters says tourism to the town has brought economic benefit to businesses. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

She said the increase in tourism had helped get her business through last year’s typically quiet cooler months.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think we’ve specifically targeted the type of tourists coming to Tasman Drive \u2026 but we have definitely noticed an increase in visitors.<\/p>\n

“I would like to see everybody [in business] work together, and if some businesses think others are doing well and they would like to do better \u2026 I’d be more than happy to help anyone, and I think there are a lot of people willing to support them if they ask those questions.”<\/p>\n

Cr Matters said council would consider changes to traffic control on the street, particularly on weekend afternoons.<\/p>\n

“The roads weren’t necessarily built for the amount of tourists we’ve got coming in at the moment,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Chinese<\/p>\n

Chinese tourists Seven and Ivy are driving from Sydney to Melbourne and stopped off at Tasman Drive. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

Attracting international tourists<\/p>\n

Chinese tourists Seven and Ivy have more than 40,000 followers on their social media account.<\/p>\n

The married couple were travelling from Sydney to Melbourne by car and discovered the Gerringong street on the Chinese equivalent of TikTok called Douyin.<\/p>\n

“We have taken many photos for sending to my family, my friends, and we tell them here is a beautiful place, and we advise them to come here,” Seven said.<\/p>\n

“We have been here twice now, and it has a blue sky and a beautiful sea view. We feel very relaxed here.”‘Suddenly you’re appearing on American YouTube clips’<\/p>\n

A search on Instagram for Tasman Drive brings up numerous videos, one of which has 37.8 million views.<\/p>\n

“It’s certainly become an internet sensation, particularly on weekends and long weekends,” Gerringong resident Ross MacAndrew said.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t worry me because it’s a big area and it’s only for a few hours each week, and I’m always impressed there’s not much rubbish left at the end of it.”\"Ross<\/p>\n

Ross MacAndrew walks his dog across the road on Tasman Drive a couple of times a day. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

Mr MacAndrew said he was scrolling through YouTube when a video featuring Tasman Drive appeared on his feed.<\/p>\n

“It bemuses me that a little town like this is suddenly appearing on American television or American YouTube clips out of the blue.<\/p>\n

“It’s [tourism] certainly increased in the last 12 months, and if anything, it’s growing rather than easing off.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerringong resident Kevin Dale said hardly anyone knew about his picturesque street on the New South Wales South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,5520,5518,5519,4446,5516,5521,5517],"class_list":{"0":"post-4247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-austrlia","10":"tag-douyin","11":"tag-instagram","12":"tag-melissa-matters","13":"tag-photography","14":"tag-tasman-drive","15":"tag-tiktok","16":"tag-tourism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}