Melbourne's horticultural excellence to be displayed at Royal Palace flower show

Victoria has formed a series of partnerships aiming to create an innovative show garden at the Royal Horticultural Society's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in London, a move the Victorian Government hopes will generate tourism to Victoria.

A joint initiative of the Victorian Government, the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Tourism Northern Territory, Qantas Australia and UK tour operator Trailfinders, the 'Essence of Australia' garden will showcase the landscapes of Victoria and the Northern Territory, celebrating Australia's love of the outdoors.

Designed by Jim Fogarty, who created the winning garden at Chelsea Flower Show in 2011, the garden celebrates the flora located at the multi-award winning Australian Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne.

Explaining the initiative, Victorian Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher stated "collaborating with these experienced and highly reputable organisations allows us to maximise our partners' networks to promote the great variety of Victorian tourism products on offer to the UK market.

"The garden will embody the stylish and exciting city experience together with the classical outback Australian iconic experience.

"This presents an exciting opportunity to work with the Northern Territory to promote complementary tourism offerings to the UK market."

The campaign to promote tourism to Victoria will run until July. It will include print advertorial and editorial content, integration into partner marketing platforms, tactical advertising, and a dedicated 16-page newspaper supplement in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

A dedicated public relations campaign will also support this activity with BBC Hampton Court broadcasts hosted by a UK garden expert, Joe Swift, during the show.

Minister Asher highlighted that tourism is a significant economic driver for Victoria, worth $19.1 billion a year or 5.8% of the total Victorian economy.

She added "the tourism industry provides jobs for more than 200,000 Victorians and contributes 7% of employment in tourism and other industries.

"Tourism from the UK has grown by 11% over the past year with almost 204,000 UK visitors staying in Victoria.

"The UK travel market continues to be an important market for Victoria. Visitors from the UK spend more time travelling throughout regional Victoria, staying on average 21 nights, spending around $322 million in Victoria per year."

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show takes place from 8th to 13th July 2014.

For more information go to http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/news/essence-of-australia-at-rhs-hampton-court-palace-flower-show