The cost of unleaded petrol has gone beyond $1.40 per litre.

HRTA president Carol Hulst said the continuing trend of interest rate rises, skyrocketing fuel prices and increased grocery bills could eventually effect tourism numbers in the shire.

"All of a sudden people's income is taken up by all of these things and they may not be as likely to get in their cars and come here for a holiday," Mrs Hulst said.

She said the HRTA would consider strategies such as introducing a holidayers' bus service from Melbourne.

"And it would be so much easier if we had a railway line servicing the area," she said.

The Victorian Tourism Alliance chairman Roger Grant said cheap flights can be an alternative to soaring prices at the bowser.

He said it meant local tourism operators are competing with overseas destinations, not just other parts of the state or interstate.

"It's pretty compelling when you can jump on to an aeroplane for a few hundred dollars and be interstate or overseas, it becomes a very viable option," Mr Grant said.

"We're not working in an environment now that we're comparing ourselves to the place up the road, we are in an international environment and people need to be aware."

But Mrs Hulst said the Hepburn Shire was "in a slightly different market" to international tourism.

"I think the cheaper airline tickets see us miss out on some of our interstate tourists," Mrs Hulst said.