VTIC highlights challenges for tourism in regional Victoria

The Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) has expressed its concerned about the small expenditure by international visitors in regional areas of the State.

While welcoming the latest International Visitor Survey (IVS), which shows a 29% increase in international tourists and spending in regional areas across Australia over the last three years, VTIC is concerned about the small expenditure by international visitors in regional areas of Victoria.

The IVS shows that the proportion of international visitor spend in regional Victoria remains small with just seven cents from every tourism dollar generated by an international overnight visitor spent in regional Victoria.

By contrast, 92.9% of total international overnight expenditure in Victoria is spent in Melbourne.

While encouraged by the IVS, which shows international expenditure in regional areas isup 28.2% year-on-year to $513 million, VTIC Chief Executive Brad Ostermeyer stated “while visitation results are strong, the data also highlights the ongoing challenge for regional tourism.

“Although the number of visitor nights in regional areas is increasing, there are still not enough tourism products and services in regional Victoria to entice international visitors to spend more. Investment in regional tourism infrastructure and attractions is vital for the Victorian economy to reap the full benefits of the growing visitation to regional areas.

“Although the Great Ocean Road region showed good year-on-year visitor growth, what the statistics don’t show is how lacking the visitor experience is at the 12 Apostles. International visitors visiting this attraction expect better infrastructure and services and the whole experience of visiting the 12 Apostles must be vastly improved for international visitors to continue visiting the region.”

The slowing growth rate of visitors from China is also a concern for VTIC.

Although China continues to be the largest source of international visitors, the growth of 7.3% recorded in Victoria is well behind the national average for the period (+12.2%) and New South Wales (+14.4%). This is a disappointing result, given the increased aviation capacity from China since mid to late 2015 with direct flights from China Southern, China Eastern and Air China.

Victoria continues to lag behind NSW on international visitor expenditure (year-on-year growth of 7.8 to $7.3 billion, compared with 9.5% growth for New South Wales); and on international visitor numbers, recording year-on-year growth of 7.7% to 2.7 million, behind both New South Wales (+9.8%) and the national average growth rate (+9.2%).

Ostermeyer added “this is a worrying trend that must be addressed before Victoria lags even further behind its interstate counterparts. With improved aviation access from China in place, Victoria needs to support this valuable investment with significant ongoing tourism marketing activities.”

Images: Chinese tourists at the 12 Apostles (top) and Brad Ostermeyer (bottom).

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