South-eastern State Victoria posted a record number of international visitors in 2009, ending the year as the country’s best performing region. Even with an increase in supply, the State’s hotels were able to sustain reasonably good results and now look towards even better growth.
Victoria has broken yet another record, with visitation increasing by 3.5% to 1.5 million visitors in 2009. This is allowed the State to reach its highest ever market share for international overnight visitation to Australia (30%). International visitor expenditure also grew by 9.1% to $3.8 billion, outperforming key competitors New South Wales (+0.6%) and Queensland (-4.1%).“While many other parts of Australia have seen a downturn in tourism, Victoria is attracting more people from overseas, who are spending more and staying longer,” Chief Executive, Tourism Victoria, Gregory Hywood told HTR.“Our State Government continues to support tourism in Victoria by attracting the world’s best major events, encouraging investment in new hotels and restaurants and facilitating more air services out of Melbourne Airport, which all help to boost economic activity and protect local jobs. We have a deliberate strategy of attracting events and ensuring a fit with our major events calendar, so that there is something to offer visitors year round.”Major source markets to Victoria continue to be New Zealand, the UK, China, and the US. Meanwhile, the most promising market for future growth is India with a forecasted average annual arrival’s growth of 10.8%, followed by China (7.9%), which should also become the largest feeder market by 2014, then Indonesia (7.7%) and Malaysia (5.9%).“Increased air services available from Asian destinations and Tourism Victoria’s international marketing campaigns over the past decade are paying off. Victoria has secured five new international airlines to fly to Melbourne Airport over the last 18 months which provides even more access for international visitors,” added Hywood.Back to business in MelbourneMelbourne performed exceptionally well, with 1.4 million international visitors, up 4.4% from 2008, up 15.7% from 2008 – although the domestic market experienced a decrease of almost 4%. Melbourne attracts the vast majority of visitors to the State, being...
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