Victoria’s visitor economy is now worth $26.5 billion, or 84 per cent of pre-pandemic level, with visitation now back to 78 per cent of that recorded in the year ending September 2019.
Regional Victoria continues to lead the way in recovery, with domestic overnight spend up by 35 per cent from 2019 to $9.6 billion.
Melbourne is making significant steps towards pre-pandemic levels of spend and visitation and is now recording higher levels of interstate overnight spend than Sydney, at $4.7 billion compared to $4 billion.
International visitors continue to return at a steady pace, with international spend almost at a third of pre-pandemic levels.
Visitation is still only at 20 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the year ending 2022 compared to September 2019, signaling the need for further demand driving activities targeting international markets.
Victoria Tourism Industry Council CEO Felicia Mariani said these figures showed that Victoria was a top destination in Australia, outperforming all expectations in recovery.
“Today’s statistics are extremely encouraging for Victoria’s visitor economy sector. Our recovery is occurring at a rate that was beyond our wildest dreams just 12 months ago,” she said.
“Areas that we knew were exceeding pre-pandemic levels like spend and visitation in regional Victoria continue to drive our recovery. But what this also shows is a tremendous appetite from interstate visitors to experience Victoria’s world-class offerings.
“As the summer peak season gets underway, major international events like the Australian Open will once again put Melbourne in the global spotlight.
“With such an impressive calendar of events, new aviation routes and further demand driving activity in 2023, our sector has a lot to be optimistic about for the New Year.
We are firmly on track to achieve the target we’ve set for $35 billion in total tourism spend by 2024.” *Source: Victoria Tourism Industry Council ANNE WRIGHT 0411 035 69
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