Victoria aims for $36.5 billion slice of tourism pie

Victoria has set high hopes to achieve a visitor expenditure of $36.5 billion by 2025, up from $23.1 billion garnered in 2015.

The state is hoping for better access and services to meet growing Asian demand to bolster the economy by $13 billion over the next decade, according to a report in The Age newspaper.

The Andrews government plan also focuses on encouraging more international visitors to spend time in regional Victoria, with reports finding only 3% of all overnight visitors to regional Victoria are from overseas.

At the core, there will also be a major push to improve infrastructure and tourism services for visitors from “emerging markets” such as Asia’s booming middle class, the paper reports.

Tourism Minister John Eren said an increase of five-star accommodation in regional areas was required to cater to high-yielding Asian tourists, per The Age.

“If every visitor stayed one more night it is worth $2 billion to the economy,” he said.

The paper quotes the Victorian Visitor Economy Strategy which stated just 10% of Chinese and Indian visitors stay overnight in regional Victoria.

“Products, accommodation and infrastructure built in past decades may need renewal or updating to provide a more compelling experience for both domestic and those visitors from new markets,” the strategy paper reported.

Currently, local Victorians are the bulk of overnight visits at 81% visiting regional areas of the state, while another 16% were domestic visitors from across Australia.

“Encouraging Melburnians and Australians to travel to regional Victoria, in preference to other states or overseas, is a key growth opportunity for regional Victoria,” the strategy paper states, per the newspaper.

The challenges to attract visitors outside of Melbourne were included in the government’s plans, which stated low awareness, limited transport, restricted internet access and limited accommodation options as key hurdles to overcome for regional Victoria.

“While Victoria has significant natural attractions across the state, these are not as recognised in the domestic market as attractions in other states and territories,” The Age reports.

“Many areas of regional Victoria also lack appropriate infrastructure, have difficulties attracting and retaining workers, and miss out on developments due to regulatory and information barriers.”

Eren said the government are encouraging more private sector investment, improved branding and marketing and ensuring better access into and around the state.

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