Victoria’s visitor statistics hit new highs

Victoria’s visitor economy is reaching record highs with boosts to visitation and tourism expenditure buoyed by effective marketing campaigns, global event acquisitions and a diverse tourism offering.

According to the national and international visitor surveys, total tourism expenditure in Victoria increased 8.6% in the year ending September 2018 to reach $28.2 billion, while total visitors to and within Victoria increased 8.2% in that period to 82.3 million, which includes 28.4 million overnight visitors and 54 million daytrips.

Asian markets continued to lead international spend growth for Victoria, with double-digit increases recorded from India (+35.5%), China (+20.4%), Japan (+16.3%) and Indonesia (+11.8%). Visit Victoria’s international marketing campaigns and trade missions, including dedicated activity in China, have worked alongside aviation partnerships and trade missions to increase visitation to the state.

The year ending September 2018 results showed that domestic overnight spend, visitors and nights in Melbourne increased, while regional Victoria recorded double-digit growth in overnight spend, in part thanks to Visit Victoria’s active domestic marketing and event acquisition activity.

Visit Victoria’s interstate Melbourne campaign, A Twist at Every Turn, has been driving visitors while the Your Happy Space campaign is encouraging Melburnians to venture to Victoria’s regions.

Visit Victoria’s highly successful major events strategy has grown Victoria’s global standing, with acquisitions like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the Presidents Cup 2019, WWE Super Show-Down, MoMA at the NGV, the Australian Open, the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and many more.

The business events arm of Visit Victoria, the Melbourne Convention Bureau, has continued to identify and convert high yield business event opportunities and attract visitors from far and wide.

Delighted by the continued growth, Visit Victoria’s Chief Execuitve Peter Bingeman said that the record numbers were a testament to Victoria’s global standing as a premiere destination for events and new experiences.

Bingeman explained “Visit Victoria is driving jobs and economic growth, which is good news for Melbourne, and vital to securing the future of Victoria’s regions.

“We’re going to make sure that the visitor economy continues its phenomenal growth in the future with strategies like Victoria’s Golf Tourism Strategy 2018-2023 and partnerships with the likes of the NRL, Rugby Union and NGV.”

Statistics 
• On average, an additional $9.2 billion per year has been added to Victoria via the visitor economy in the last five years.
• An average increase of 5.5% per annum over the last five years means an additional 19.4 million visitors each year for Victoria.
• Total tourism expenditure in Melbourne grew 9.5% year-on-year to $18.1 billion.
• Total tourism expenditure in Regional Victoria grew 7.0% year-on-year to $10.1 billion.
International Visitor Survey (IVS): 
• International expenditure in Victoria continued to break records to reach $8.3 billion in the year ending September 2018, representing growth of 8.6% and increasing market share of expenditure by 0.9 percentage points.
• Victoria well exceeded the national growth rate for spend (+5.2%) and key competitor NSW (+2.1%).

National Visitor Survey (NVS): 
• Solid growth of 9.8% was recorded in domestic overnight expenditure in Victoria to reach $14.6 billion.
• Total domestic overnight visitors to and within Victoria increased by 6.8% to 25.4 million.

Sources: International and National Visitor Surveys, Tourism Research Australia (TRA), year ending September 2018

Click here for further information about the Victorian visitor statistics.

Images: Melbourne's Federation Square (top) and the Gumbuya World waterpark (below).