Record year of major events for Victoria

2022 saw a record year of major events for Victoria attracting 6.9 million attendees to sporting, music, arts and cultural events across the state. The major sporting, cultural and music events supported by the Victorian Government delivered an almost $1 billion boost to the state’s economy in the second half of 2022.

This delivered huge benefits for the state’s hotels, with occupancy averaging over 67% over the second half of the year – peaking at 93.7% on the night of the Billy Joel concert.

Manchester United kicked off the feast of major events in July, with over 150,000 people attending across the two matches at the MCG. New Zealand and Australian Rugby fans poured into the city for the sold-out return of the Bledisloe Cup at Marvel Stadium.

The teams will return this year for a much-anticipated match at the MCG before they depart for the World Cup in France.

The world first Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition, The Picasso Century, saw hundreds of thousands of people visit the NGV to see one of modern art’s greats, alongside his contemporaries and those he inspired.

The newest exhibition, Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse continues to draw crowds to Melbourne to marvel at the visionary designer’s creations up close.

Victoria’s newest music major event Always Live rocked crowds in November. While more than 76,000 fans enjoyed Billy Joel’s one-off show, Always Live also had more than 60 acts playing at venues large and small across Victoria. In a first for the town, Mildura hosted a Kings of Leon concert in front of more than 10,000 fans.

November also saw the world’s best cricketers wowing spectators as fans packed GMHBA Stadium in Geelong and the MCG for the ICC T20 World Cup, including over 90,000 fans at the ‘G for India v Pakistan which was also watched by over 700 million people globally.

Victoria’s sandbelt golf courses also hosted the first combined men’s and women’s Australian Open golf tournament in front of tens of thousands of spectators.

With this jam-packed six months of events in 2022 generating over $980 million in economic impact, the latest figures show the visitor economy in Victoria has reached $26.5 billion and is back to 84% of pre-pandemic levels.

Image: More than 76,000 fans enjoyed Billy Joel’s one-off show at the MCG