Victorian tourism: Record visitor spending in Melbourne and regional areas post Covid

Melbourne might have been the most locked down city during the pandemic but new findings have revealed Victoria is leading Australia’s tourism recovery.

Melbourne is leading Australia’s tourism recovery according to a new study. Photo: AFP

Victoria’s tourism sector has bounced back better than ever with new figures showing visitors spent more in the state last year than before the pandemic.

A study to be released on Wednesday reveals visitor expenditure in Victoria hit a record high of $35 billion for the year ending March 2023.

The data, to be released by Tourism Research Australia, shows visitor spending in Victoria surpassed the 2019 pre-pandemic peak of $32.5 billion.

In another win for Victoria’s comeback the state is leading the nation’s tourism recovery, attracting 22.1 per cent of Australia’s total visitor expenditure over that 12-month period.

Victoria made the largest market share gains in the country with a 2.9 percentage point growth.

The research also revealed Melbourne retained its crown as the top interstate overnight leisure destination in Australia, with 3.6 million visitors staying 14.6 million nights and spending $5.1 billion.

Tourism Minister Steve Dimopoulos said tourism was “critical to the state’s economy’’ and the findings proved Victoria was as popular with tourists as ever.

“These are outstanding results for the Victorian tourism industry which has shown incredible resilience and innovation in recent years,’’ he said.

“There’s no question that Victoria is back and top of the list for travellers from across the globe.”

Regional Victoria also attracted record results with all major tourism regions hitting all-time highs.

Visitor spending in Phillip Island increased by 75 per cent since 2019, the state’s High Country experienced a 73 per cent surge in tourists and the Grampians rose by 66 per cent.

Visit Victoria acting chief executive Kelly Dickson said the record figures came off the back of blockbuster major sports and business events and tourism campaigns that reached

more than 15 million people.

“We’re thrilled to see tourism in regional Victoria humming, as well as Melbourne keeping the top spot as the country’s number one interstate overnight leisure destination,’’ she said.

Overall intrastate overnight visitation numbers to regional Victoria rose six per cent and expenditure was up 58 per cent from 2019.

International tourists recorded $4.2 billion in visitor expenditure in Victoria – about half 2019 levels.

China returned as Victoria’s top international tourist market despite borders only reopening in January and Indian tourists continued to grow, spending 11 per cent more than in 2019.