Cruisin' on the fast track to success
By GREG ELLIS

WHEN biker Steve Melchior started taking passengers for Harley rides along the Illawarra coastline seven years ago, it allowed the Qantas engineer to mix a second business with pleasure.
Most of his business came from Illawarra residents interested in booking Just Cruisin' Harley Tours for birthdays and weddings.

Tons of fun: Visiting Korean travel agents Seung Eum Lee (centre) and Terius Koh soak up the sun during their trip around Wollongong yesterday with Steve Melchior of Just Cruisin'.
Picture: KEN ROBERTSON

But word-of-mouth advertising and promotion into Sydney and Asia by Tourism Wollongong and Tourism NSW has resulted in more than half of Mr Melchior's business coming from outside the region.
Sydney weekend visitors make up about 40 per cent of his business and more Asian tour groups are making bookings.
It has reached the point where Mr Melchior is struggling to keep up with demand.
"It has just kicked on really big in the past 12 months. On my website I have been getting bookings from London and I have had bookings from Singapore," he said.
Mr Melchior, of Helensburgh, said he could now see a lot more potential from inbound tourism but he was also encouraged by the growing interest from Sydney.
His most unusual tour involved a ride for a woman celebrating her 93rd birthday. She received plenty of attention when the Just Cruisin' Harley delivered her back to her nursing home.
Mr Melchior works closely with operators such as Tumbling Waters and Crooked River Winery.
He plans to ramp up his business when he retires from Qantas in about 18 months. The timing will be perfect because that is when Lawrence Hargrave Dr is scheduled to reopen.
Mr Melchior wants to be the first bike rider with the first tourist on the new bridge.
He said business dropped off initially when the road closed but had steadily increased as Wollongong became a more popular destination.
Tourism Wollongong manager Greg Binskin said the bridge would give Wollongong a national marketing opportunity when it opened.